definitely kept me on the right path. From there I moved into Muay Thai at the age of 17, then into kickboxing and boxing at 21, and I turned pro at 22.”
He has an impressive record in the ring – at the time of writing he had won all nine boxing matches, two out of three Muay Thai fights, and 43 out of 46 kickboxing bouts. He has also won various titles, at both amateur and pro level in boxing and kickboxing, and he says his fitness is one of his biggest strengths when it comes to fighting.“ I have always jogged for fitness for my fighting sports, but I had never done it as a serious sport. I used to do it as a warm-up, with a lot of sprints followed by a 5km jog, before I would do my CrossFit, weight training and body weight training. However, I recently started running more, because my training stops on Fridays, and I found that by Sunday I was so full of energy that I would go for a 21km run just for fun – without timing myself, just running in the mountains.”
“ The running bug has definitely bitten me. It’ s really fun, and it also helps me stay in peak physical shape for fighting, especially to maintain my weight ahead of fights. I fight in the 75kg division, but on a normal day I walk around at 83kg, so doing all these races is keeping my weight down, and motivating me to keep my diet 100 % clean. When I run, I can feel what my body is capable of, and literally feel every muscle in my body working. And when I race, I get tested against a lot of other people, and at the end of the race there is a really rewarding feeling.”
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Besides being a pro fighter and personal trainer, Ashley is kept fairly busy with stunt and acting work in Cape Town’ s growing film industry. He got into stunt work in 2013 when he went for an audition for the mini-series, Of Kings and Prophets, and had to do fitness and reaction tests as part of the audition.“ That’ s where I got my first job, and then more followed. I was then signed by The Stunt Network, and I’ ve worked on various productions, including 24 Hours to Live, Samson, a French production called The First Man, and most recently Scorpion King 5.”
Unsurprisingly, Ashley is involved in a lot of fight scenes, but also does high falls, horse riding and other stunts.“ It’ s often high-risk work, but the stunt team sticks together and that makes the team work good. It’ s very exciting work, and you get to meet a lot of people – the make-up people, the camera team, the actors, the
casting people, and the stunt team. You also get to learn a lot about all the countries the people come from.”
Looking ahead, Ashley says the long-term plan is to open a sport centre for fitness, martial arts and stunt training, with girlfriend Robin bringing her dietetics training on board as well, but for now he is focused on his fighting career and stunt work, with plenty more running and OCR events thrown into the mix.“ I enjoy challenging myself in running, because it’ s another way to test my abilities as an athlete, so I’ m definitely going to keep doing races and try stay with the top guys. I’ m now checking the calendar for trail and road running events, and looking forward to the next IMPI, Warrior and Grind events. I’ m going to run a lot and specifically prepare for obstacles, and then see how I do.”
GARBIE Supports Runners …
So support the company that
is helping us to # runclean
In conjunction with Modern Athlete’ s # runclean campaign, GARBIE from East Rand Plastics is providing free fold-up cardboard bins and plastic bin liners to races that register as a # runclean event and make an effort to do something about the plastic litter being left on the roads by runners.
East Rand Plastics is one of Africa’ s largest manufacturers of refuse bags, from light duty household to heavy duty garden and industrial requirements, all marketed under the GARBIE brand and many individual house brands. These refuse bags are manufactured using recycled materials and ensuring the reuse of resources and the protection of our delicate environment.
GARBIE is the household name for refuse bags and available at all leading retail stores in South Africa and surrounds. So, next time you’ re at the shops and stocking up on refuse bags, support the company that supports runners.
To register your running event as a # runclean race and receive free GARBIE bins, go to http:// modernathlete. co. za / bf. php? fid = 287 or sign up via the link on www. facebook. com / runclean.( As from the 1 st of August 2017, only events that display the GARBIE logo on their entry forms and website will qualify for FREE bins.)
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