The first Guardian Challenge took place in 2006. This annual event has seen different Guardians take the responsibility to set a new challenge every year to raise money for the Lau Gar Trust.

Here is a list of previous challenges and a brief report.

2006
Wyre Forest Half Marathon
This year’s challenge was to take part in the Wyre Forest Half Marathon. The course consists of 13.1 miles of “Undulating” terrain. For those that don’t run regularly this actually means running up and down hills.

Even though the weather was kinder than in the past (not the usual 35 °C), instead of baking heat, we endured treacherous muddy, uneven, downhill stretches. In other words (Morag’s words) it was a great course, a true challenge worthy of our members. 

2007
10 hour Taijiathon
On Sunday 24th June people came from far and wide to join in the ‘Tai Chi-athon’, this year’s Guardian Challenge. 43 Kung Fu and Tai Chi students from all across Britain travelled to Codsall, near Stafford in the Midlands to participate in the gruelling challenge of 10 hours of Tai Chi.

Several Lau Gar Guardians and Master Yau led classes throughout the day, following a tough schedule.

2008
8 Hour walk in the Cleveland Hills
The challenge will be an 8 hour walk in Cleveland Hills which run along the northern edge of the North York Moors. Experience the Beauty and Landmarks of the North York Moors

This years Challenge was hosted by Keith Thomas - Lau Gar Guardian. Keith Thomas is based in Stockton-on-Tees and has been training well over 30 years. Keith is also a qualified practitioner of Chinese Medicine.

 
2009
Assault Course and Archery
The 2009 Guardian Challenge took place at the Adrenalin Jungle Adventure Centre, near Sherwood Forest, Nottingham on Sunday 21st June. The centre is professionally run and has several adventure courses available. Our challenge was an assault course, archery and a fun challenge called ‘The Duck Rescue’. 

The Challenge was organised by Clive Thompson and included grapple nets, a 7ft wall, crawl nets, rope swings, walk boards, a large suspended tyre and a very dark tunnel about 2ft high. The course was spread out along several hundred metres of pathways through a large pine forest. 


2010
Sparring Challenge
This year’s Guardian challenge took place at Kingstown sport centre in June 2010 this was a challenge to do 40 rounds sparring hosted by instructor Mr Sean Viera with the help of Rash Patel and Pete Hornby.
Over 30 students from different clubs turned up to bravely take part in the challenge which consisted of 40 two minute rounds of sparring. There were many different styles and clubs involved and to reflect this everyone was given the opportunity to choose their style to spar. These styles were semi contact points figh􏰀ng, light con􏰀nuous and push- ing hands. Many students showed extra skill by doing a mixture of rounds in all styles. 

2011
Kettlebell Challenge
This year’s Guardian Challenge was hosted on the 25th of June by Stuart Agars of the National Centre for ​Chinese Martial Arts in the Northern Spa town Harrogate. 

Stuart is qualified to teach Kettlebells and holds an IKFF instructor qualification. Stuart’s Kettlebell coach is the accomplished martial artist & world famous Kettlebell instructor Steve Cotter.

After an introduction for those who had never used a Kettlebell before, the challenge took place. To complete the challenge, participants were required to take part in a 1 hour continuous Kettle bell lift ! We encourage people to try to use a Kettlebell for 10 minutes continuously. This was a really Awesome Challenge! In addition to lifting continuously for 1 hour, a target of 500 lifts was set for each participant. 

2012
Kung Fu Forty
To mark 40 years of Lau Gar Kung Fu in the UK Master Yau issued a challenge that all clubs and students could participate in. It required no special equipment or premises.
The challenge was to continue for 40 minutes and include:
Brief warm up of major muscle groups, Running on the spot for 40 seconds, 40 front kicks left leg, 40 front kicks right leg, 40 press ups, 40 squat thrusts, 40 seconds in horse stance, 40 punches in horse stances. Repeat the sequence substituting a variety of kicks and hand shapes as practised in Lau Gar. 

2013
The Magnificent Seven
The 2013 Guardian Challenge was organised by Steve Jefferey and involved a seven mile run across 7very steep hills or peaks along the Dorset ‘Jurassic’ coastline; hence the name of the event the ‘Magnificent Seven’. Twenty two runners set off on 26 May along the coastal route, the distance itself of which isn’t that long; what makes the event challenging is the ruggedness of the course and close succession of some very steep climbs. 

2014
Pyramid Challenge
The Challenge this year was organised by Stuart Hunt and the challenge was to complete at least one, or more if possible, Pyramid training sessions within an hour.
The pyramid consisted of nine body weight exercises followed by a 30 second Horse Riding stance. Each exercise had to be performed on a reducing scale starting with 10 repetitions, then 9 repetitions and so on until the last repeti- tion was one of each exercise, followed of course by a final Horse Riding stance. 

The exercises were; Squat Thrust, Twisting crunch with alternating leg raise, Press Ups (hands shoulder width apart), Squats (with arms extended for- wards), Lower Section Crunch, Press Ups (with fingers and thumbs making a diamond shape), Squats (arms folded and performed very slowly), Upper Sec- tion Crunches, Press Ups (hands double shoulder width apart) and of course the Horse Riding Stance for 30 seconds.  

 

More details and pictures of each of these magnificent Challenges can be found in the relevant Guardian Reports (under the Guardians Menu).