Ruthie Wright is British Chessboxing Champion
To their clients Andy Costello and Ruthie Wright from Exeter's fitness and martial arts club Project Mayhem are ordinairy instructors but they have a mutual, private passion - boxing and chess.
That may not sound unusual, until you discover that they combine both activities in one surreal sport!
Chessboxing was invented by Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh, who was inspired by a French comic book Le Froid Equateur by artist and filmmaker Enki Bilal. Despite this it is growing in popularity as a spectator sport and Ruthie and Andy lead the way as competitors. Ruthie's involvement started four years ago, but a series of disappointments has thwarted her dreams of success, until now that is.
Ruthie told The Exeter Daily: "I had been training since last October ever since my first boxing match, which I lost to a better and heavier opponant. But it spurred me on to want to get better and win. I had arranged to fight a new opponant in March, and spent seven weeks training in Thailand over January, but on my return my opponant unfortunately pulled out. The next show was scheduled for August, but because of a conflict with the Olympics/Paralympics, that was postponed.
"And again in September I was due to fight one opponant at 'The Scala' in London when she pulled out too! But I was lucky that Jenny-Anne Dexter could step in as a late entry. A key bit of advice is not to get check mated in the first round! You can either win on check mate or with a knock out, and I won on a technical knock out."
Jenny-Anne Dexter brought some nice boxing skills and competent chess to the table, but in what transpired to be the contest of the night Ruthie established her dominance in the ring as well as over the chess board. winning by a technical knock out in the sixth round.
Andy Costello fought Gianluca Sircci, a professional boxer from Italy, for the European title. Andy soaked up some early pressure from an aggressive Gianluca in the first round of boxing before fighting his way into the contest and finishing strongly in the second. Meanwhile the former Devon junior chess champion took control at the board, winning Gianluca's queen and forcing his resignation to take the title.
The Exeter Daily asked Ruthie what is next for her: "I can't wait to do it again! I didn't expect to become Flyweight Champion, but as there were no other eligible candidates and I had trained for all four fights that were scheduled, it was deemed that I deserved to win the title. I hope to compete next at the Royal Albert Hall in December, but we desperately need others to step forward and take an interest."
Ruthie has up until recently been working at Exeter College, but now returns to her role as a freelance fitness trainer to enable her to concentrate on her martial arts. She would also like to set up a local chessboxing event, probably in December, at a venue to be announced at a future date.
Find out more about Ruthie and Project Mayhem MMA at http://projectmayhemmma.weebly.com
Ruthie is sponsored by Exeter-based Sweet Cheeks UK, (Sweetcheeksuk.com) and Skintight Clothing (skintight.co.uk).
Chessboxing photos by @jamesbartosik
