Castle Hill test for Nauru boxers (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Castle Hill test for Nauru boxers

9:52am Monday 1st August 2011 in Patrick O'Kane By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

DURING the next five weeks chairman of Kendal Judo Club Peter Holme will use my blog to discuss the training programme of a group of boxers from the South Pacific at Kendal Dojo.

The Kendal Dojo was the venue for a visit from the Tongan boxing squad in return for a trip the Nauruan boxers made to the South Sea Islander's base in Liverpool and the Kendal based boxers were not slow in comparing the two venues and in particular the surrounding area.

In the morning, prior to the arrival of the Tongans the Nauruans had been out on their usual 7am morning run. This time it was to the Kendal Castle Hill for an hour of hard exercise.

In the island of Nauru the highest point above sea level is 71m and is arrived at by a gentle slope. The Castle Hill is a similar height but the incline to the castle from the Castle Grove side is virtually vertical in comparison.

Coach Ian Irwin started them off with a gentle jog along the bottom of the hill but that soon changed to sprints every hundred metres adding high knee lifts in between.

Then he pointed them up the hill and, with "threats" of encouragement off they had to go to the top and back, and not just once.

Kendal Judo Club during their famed winter training camps use the same venue but add tyres to be dragged behind the athletes as an additional burden.

Ian was gentle with them (they did not have the tyres) although the boxers were not too sure, at the end of the period about his idea of "gentle."