A huge turnout to Boone County’s Marine Corps Challenge has organizers looking at a larger venue for next year.

“I was really surprised, in a good way, with the number of people who came out for the event. We had approximately 150 people show up,” Greg Dillon, martial arts instructor told the Coal Valley News.

“It was a great turnout. There were about 30 Marines and Marine Corps recruits from around the region that joined the community members,” Sgt. Foster of the United States Marine Corps stated.

According to Foster, participants ranged in age from as young as 3 years old to approximately 22 years old.

“The feedback I received from my guys was that they really enjoyed it and liked the fact that the physical PT activity took place in a town. They said they really enjoyed the community involvement and combining our program with the community’s martial arts,” Foster said.

According to Foster, he also received positive feedback from a couple area veterans who said they were in support of the event.

“They told me that they hope we can do this more often. They mentioned some kids who had set fire to a house. An event like ours gives something to do for kids with too much time on their hands,” he said.

“Someone suggested we have a larger venue when we have this again. We certainly want to aim at having this at least two times a year. Another suggestion we had was to get involved with the waterpark and have some sort of water endurance event or reading coordinates on a map; those are some things we’ll be looking at,” Dillon told the Coal Valley News.

The Marine Corps Challenge began with a jog through

downtown Madison on the Wellness Trail, followed with sit ups and pull-ups.

Then, 52 participants, ranging in age and gender, competed in a mixed martial arts tournament at the Martial Arts Studio on Main Street, Madison.

“This event gave us the

opportunity to show the public that martial arts is not like the Hollywood version they’re used to. They have a picture of martial arts tournaments from television. Reality shows that these

tournaments are filled with great compassion and skill. The

competitors cross-train and are skilled athletes who take it as serious as an athlete who runs 60 miles or who plays a sport like basketball,” Dillon said.

Competitors could choose from either a heavyweight

division or lightweight division, and novice or advanced martial arts. The participants were

further split into groups based on their ages. They were not, like many area sporting events, grouped by gender. Both males and females competed against one another.

“We had some excellent

competitors – one particular female competitor clearly led the pack in her fights. She had agility and was a skillful competitor. The crowd gave her a standing ovation at the end,” Dillon said.

Another observation the martial arts instructor commented on was that the lightweight competitors seem to always start out behind “and he just gets better and better and tries harder and harder,” whereas a heavyweights might start out strong but then be put

off-track or lose steam if he comes upon a stumbling block.

Besides the general public, family and friends of the

competitors, and several Marine recruits, Dillon says there were a few boxing referees who came in and watched. “A rumor was

circulating that someone from the Athletics Commission might come and watch, but I’m not sure about that,” he said.

For those who were in

attendance, they witnessed older, skilled martial arts students

helping younger students and event organizers who put safety above all else.

“We asked the leaders to help coach the kids on the side and we did stop a few fights for safety issues,’ Dillon said.

“Part of the challenge was each competitor received points for each event. You had to do everything to have a chance at winning. You don’t have to be first in each event, you just have to do your best and have heart. You can’t teach that,” Dillon told the Coal Valley News.

“Just like Mike Layton, from Sherman. He is the 17-year-old fullback for Sherman High School who did each event yet was fourth place in tryouts. He did all the events. He had some boxing and wrestling experience. He fought Matt Garretson right away, who has competed in eight amateur kickboxing fights. Matt won,” Dillon says.

“He entered against

overwhelming odds, adapted, overcame and in the end had a bruised body, but great pride. That what this is about,” Mike Garretson said of Mike Layton.

“Layton just recently enlisted in the Marine Corps this past weekend,” Sgt Foster said.

“Boone County probably has the most Marine Corps applicants than any other county.

We’re turning a lot of people away – what we could accept six months ago, we can’t now. We have less opening out there since a lot of people in the service are staying in and not getting out because of the way the economy is going. As a recruiter, I travel all around to find the most qualified individuals to join the Marine Corps. I don’t get paid extra or overtime for doing these things, but it is these types of events where we find the best of the best rising to the top, and that’s the type of individual the Marine Corps is interested in,” Foster said.

For many of the competitors, it was an opportunity to challenge ones self physically and mentally.

“We met lots of people and it was challenging,” parent Jennifer Bagley said. Bagley’s son, Daniel Bagley III, competed in seven events in the 4-7 year old group. “I cheered my boy on like nothing in the world. It was great. He went from here to football and was on a winning track that night,” she said.

“These kids were cute, skilled and energetic. Bagley won by a split decision over Kirk,” Dillon said.

“There was a three-way tie in the novice 8-11 age division. All these kids came out fast and serious. The highlight match was between Jagger Bell and K. Stanley. The combinations, take-downs, throws were what teenagers aspire to do and these kids were only 8-years old,” Dillon commented.

“In the advanced 8-11 age division, the crowd was on their feet when Cheyenne Green took down her male opponents. Parents love to see girls win a match over the boys,” Dillon commented.