Thai fighters turn Full Monty for charity calendar

AS A two-time world martial arts champion, he has faced some tough competition in the ring.

But Muay Thai champion Craig O’Flynn has faced down his biggest challenge yet — stripping off for a charity calendar.

The top-flight Cork-based Thai boxer, along with 11 of his fellow practitioners in the Sitjaipetch Muay Thai Centre in Blackpool, have bared all to raise money for the Men’s Health and Prostate Cancer Clinic based at the city’s Mercy University Hospital (MUH).

While some of the female practitioners wore their fighting suits, and struck athletic poses in the ring, most of their male counterparts went the Full Monty — maintaining their dignity with strategically positioned boxing gloves and gym weights.

The Sitjaipetch 2011 Muay Thai and Martial Arts Charity Calendar, priced €10, is on sale from the centre and from the Mercy Hospital Foundation, the official fundraising body for MUH.

Muay Thai fighter Greg Marah, or Mr September as he is now known, came up with the idea while on holidays in August.

“The father of one of the lads in the centre had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” he said. “The Mercy University Hospital had been fantastic to the family and we were looking for ways to raise money to support the work that they’re doing.

“I remembered the film Calendar Girls while on holiday and came back with the idea for our own version of the calendar. To my great surprise, everyone said ‘go for it!’”

Mr O’Flynn said: “We’re all used to facing opponents in the ring, but this calendar was a stiff challenge.

“It’s certainly a different kind of exposure to what we’re used to. We were lucky to have two great photographers, Tom Whelton and Tom Swanton, taking the shots for us, making sure that they got our good sides.”

Micheál Sheridan, who runs the Mercy Hospital Foundation, said the calendar was one of the more unusual fundraising ideas they had seen this year.

“It’s not often we get to see so much of our fundraisers but we’re overwhelmed with the effort and commitment that they have put in to help raise funds for the Men’s Health and Prostate Cancer Fund,” he said.

The MUH’s Prostate Cancer Clinic opened in September 2009. It was the first, and is the only, Rapid Access PSA Clinic in Munster.

The clinic, which has reduced the delay between an initial diagnosis and the beginning of treatment by between four and six weeks, costs €95,000 to run every year.

* Contact the Mercy University Hospital Foundation on 021-4274076 to order the calendar.