San Tsuru Academy held a ‘Rollathon’ to raise money for the family of a former club member.

The Rollathon was a 24 hour non stop sparring session held at the martial arts facility in Launceston. The whole day was spent with people constantly on the mats sparring from 10am Saturday, November 26 to 10am Sunday, Novemeber 27 with the exception of the 2 minute breaks in between rounds, the action was non-stop.

The fundraiser was set to raise money for the family of former club member, Jonatan Preito, who tragically lost his battle with mental ill health in late August this year. Over 25 people from all over Cornwall and Devon came to take part in the fundraising event each one rotating in for rounds of sparring.

Nathan Haynes, organiser, said: “It was great to see that word had spread and that other like-minded martial artists wanted to come along and show their support.’’

The team, who train in Newport, gave themselves a target of £2000, however shortly after starting the fundraiser on the Sunday morning, the team has soon realised they had already raised over £3000.

Nathan continued: “We smashed our target, thanks to the amazing efforts of everyone involved in the fundraising from the club; and the incredible generosity of some of our local businesses. We’d never have been able to do this without those efforts and such kindness.”

Everyone one who took part completed the exhausting challenge, some only resting for a couple of hours over the whole 24 hours period.

Nathan added: “It was very tough, and I’m not just saying that. We knew going in that it would be hard work, but honestly between the hours of 1am - 7am, we were absolutely exhausted. I somehow found the drive to keep myself going. My students encouraged me to rest up but for reasons I can’t get my head around, I just couldn’t stay still! So in total over the 24hrs I think I had about 2 hours of actual rest time. And my students pushed as hard as I did, looking after each other as we rotated with tea and coffee, food and blankets. Everyone sat shoulder to shoulder and found the resolve to keep going, and I couldn’t be prouder of them. But in terms of doing it again, we won’t be rushing!”

After the event, Nathan gave a few words to remind everyone who took part why they had completed the challenge.

A week later, early Christmas presents were given to the children and the funds raised were transferred to their mother.

Nathan added: ‘‘I could see how much the help meant to her, and that was a very special moment for all of us.’’

“Firstly, we want to say a massive thank you to each and every person who kindly donated to the cause, because they’ve made a profound difference to people who are in dire need. Thank you!

“Secondly, we had an amazing response from so many of our fantastic local businesses - who donated raffle prizes out of the kindness of their hearts. A special shout out goes out to Cornish Focaccia (CoFo), who brought a food van down to the event and were incredibly kind and giving with their time.

“They’re a great business with a big heart, and we are very grateful for their help.

‘‘We’ll also be doing a social media post soon, naming and thanking all of the businesses who donated.”

To donate visit gofund.me/415f18d6