Martial artist's gruelling 24-hour punching challenge helps children battling cancer

Between 31 October and 1 November in Jakarta, Indonesia, a crowd cheered around an indoor boxing ring as a countdown timer raced to the long-awaited zero mark.

In the ring, a man was fighting through exhaustion and pain with boxing gloves fastened on his hands, throwing punches at a boxing pad being held up for him by another person. As he continued to make his final round of strikes, the timer finally hit zero, and the crowd roared in excitement.

Almost kneeling down from the inevitable fatigue and realization that the ordeal was over, martial artist Patrick Winata cried as he knew that he had made it into the record books by completing the most boxing pad punching rounds in 24 hours.

Born in the town of Fakfak, West Papua, Patrick is a long-time fan of Guinness World Records and had always dreamed about one day becoming a record holder himself. Developing a passion for boxing since he was small, it was this very sport that ultimately led him to achieve his dreams. However, the story behind Patrick’s motivation to do the record attempt was a greater calling.

Growing up, Patrick took notice of the many inequalities in this world that he deemed unfair. He was particularly drawn to the suffering of young cancer patients in Indonesia, which pushed him to start his very own social movement, Project24. The concept of the movement was that it would challenge individuals to go beyond their limits for 24 hours, not for fame, but for something greater: bringing hope to children battling cancer.

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He explained: “I feel like it was my calling to be an advocate for those who weren’t given the same opportunities as everyone else in terms of physical health. I named this movement Project24 because that is the only thing that seemed fair – that we all only have 24 hours each and every day.”

Patrick also recounted a painful experience he had to endure involving one of the young cancer patients who he personally got to know through a small cancer foundation that he managed, which focused on granting the wishes of children with cancer.

“He was one of the kids who we thought was making progress with recovery, but around the time when I was preparing for the record attempt, his condition started to decline. I made a promise to him that I would come out of the record attempt with the Guinness World Records official certificate and that I would show it to him directly at the hospital where he was treated. I was luckily able to keep that promise… but two days after that night we visited him, he was no longer with us.

“It was hard. He looked so happy that night. But when I remember that time, I realized how much he and all the other kids battling cancer were what motivated me to keep going when I did the record attempt. Every time I had the thought of giving up, I would think of them, and it would push me to move forward.”

Preparing for the record attempt was also no easy task. Patrick had a four-month preparation period leading up to the attempt, and this involved intense physical training sessions, rigorous nutritional maintenance, and constant upkeep of his mental fortitude. Patrick confessed that the preparation was so overwhelming that he almost backed out a month before the attempt.

In order to set the record, Patrick had to do a minimum of 200 rounds within the 24-hour time limit, and each round would last for three minutes followed by a one-minute break. He recounts that there were three points in the attempt that were the most difficult for him, which were the first hour, the halfway mark, and the last stretch of the attempt.

“The first hour of the attempt was so tough because it felt like time froze and there was still a long way to go. When I reached the halfway mark, that was when my body started moving almost as if I was a zombie. The exhaustion kicked in, and I was fighting away my need for sleep all while I had to keep on boxing,” explained Patrick.

“In the last stretch of the attempt, my left hand started getting cramped and it was almost no longer possible to throw a punch with that hand. Both of my legs had also suffered the same fate, so I had to really be careful not to trip and fall. Luckily, we did have a simulation run in a scenario that this would happen, so the strategy was to keep on going while only using my right hand to strike. But it was a really scary moment, because one wrong move and I could’ve failed the whole attempt.”

At the end, Patrick triumphed in the 24-hour attempt with a total of 223 rounds.

“Initially, our target was 205 rounds. But once we got closer to that goal, we realized we could probably do more, and so the team and I agreed that we could shorten the breaks to fit in more rounds. And so that target changed to 217 at first, then to 222 because we thought it’d be a nice string of the same numbers. Ultimately, there was time for an extra round in the last stretch of the attempt, and so it became 223.”

Looking back at the record attempt, Patrick shares that the most memorable aspect of it was how all his family members and friends were able to come together to support him. He felt especially emotional during the last stretch of the attempt when he heard the loud cheers of his loved ones in the crowd.

“I really felt like my life changed after doing this experience leading to the Guinness World Records title. I especially think that the preparation leading to the attempt was like a spiritual journey for me. I was taught the meaning of sacrifice, and I learned to become someone more tough and one who should have more faith in their dreams. I feel like a different person now,” Patrick shared.

As a result of the attempt, Patrick and Project24 successfully raised 234,805,212 Rupiah (equivalent to $15,000; £10,497) which was donated for paediatric cancer support through the non-profit foundation Catatan Kecil Untuk Semesta, which is managed by Project24, to Indonesia-based cancer foundation Yayasan Kasih Anak Kanker Indonesia (YKAKI).