By Derek Royal

2011 was a year of experiences for world Muay Thai champion Caley Reece. Not only did the Perth fighter win her second world crown in June, she also reinforced her passion for flying. Derek Royal reports.

BOEING 737-800 COCKPIT, NOVEMBER 2011
CALEY Reece sits in the left-hand seat of a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 and pushes the aircraft’s throttles to maximum power, flooding the two massive jet engines with fuel. The power plants immediately respond with a high-pitched whine and the plane quickly gains speed as it roars down the runway. “One hundred,” calls the first officer, as the aircraft reaches 100 knots. “V1,” he continues. “Rotate,” and at that, Caley eases the control column backwards and lifts the Boeing’s nose into the clear blue Sydney sky. The F/O retracts the undercarriage and a right turn at 500 feet puts the aircraft on track for the journey to Melbourne.

Caley and her F/O are today rostered to fly two sectors: Sydney/Gold Coast/Sydney and Sydney/Melbourne/Sydney. But due to a mechanical problem, the Melbourne sector has been delayed by 90 minutes, prompting the airline’s operations centre to request the crew fly as fast as possible in order to return to Sydney before the airport’s 11pm curfew. The pressure is on and in an effort to make up lost time, Caley decides to cruise at 28,000 feet at Mach 0.8 to gain a better true air speed. While costing an extra 200kg in fuel, this action will save about five minutes’ flying time.

Ninety minutes after departing Sydney, Caley caresses the 737 onto the runway at Melbourne and with a sigh of relief, parks the aircraft and shuts down the engines. She then completes the parking checklist and attends to more paperwork, including logging fuel on board and flight time. As the passengers disembark, the pilots prepare for the return flight to Sydney.

RIDDLERS GYM, PERTH, JUNE 2011
CALEY is ripping through a pad session at Riddlers Gym, a renowned fighters’ gym in suburban Perth owned by Caley and her husband Darren. With a WMC world title fight against Sweden’s European champion Madeleine Vall just over a fortnight away, the blonde bombshell trains like a well-oiled machine, delivering a series of punches, kicks, elbows and knees with uncanny precision.

Caley is training like a beast and such is her gift for masking her pain, no-one in the gym even suspects the hardship she has endured over the past fortnight. In preparation for her world title bout, she two weeks ago beat a Thai girl in Phuket but returned home with a broken nose and fractured ribs. The nose has healed but the ribs have developed into a major concern, forcing Caley to seriously consider withdrawing from a fight she has dreamed about for years.
“This is the biggest fight of my career and I can’t spar because the ribs hurt even when I breathe,” the attractive 31-year-old says. “I’m fit but can I handle getting hit in the ribs? I really don’t know. I’m searching for a miracle.”

The next day, Caley completes an 8km run in a blistering personal best of 34 and a half minutes and feels on top of the world. But she suffers a setback when, in a willing pad session, her husband Darren accidently re-breaks her nose. “I can’t believe it,” she says. “I mean, what else can go wrong?”

Pain and adversity have been constant companions for Caley as she has carved a niche as one of the world’s most skilled and respected professional fighters. She suffered multiple dislocated shoulders before succumbing to surgery;  
has endured four broken noses, broken toes, and rib cartilage damage. But despite the battering she has taken over the years, and despite achieving an abundance of gongs and awards in her glittering career, it appears nothing will stop Caley from entering the ring.   

BOEING 737-800 COCKPIT, NOVEMBER 2011
CALEY again flies in command for the return flight to Sydney and after departing Melbourne, tracks northeast towards Albury and Canberra before commencing her descent just north of Goulburn. On the way into Sydney, ATC cancels the original standard instrument arrival and requests a high speed approach, whilst radar vectoring the flight to a base position for Runway 34 Left. This requires a total re-plan of the approach profile, which Caley completes without fuss.

On final approach into Sydney at 500 feet, the F/O confirms the aircraft is in a safe position to land. At 30 feet Caley flares the Boeing and reduces the thrust to idle. As the big silver bird touches down, she selects maximum reverse thrust and commences manual braking. Welcome to Sydney; time is 10.40pm and after a five minute taxi to the parking bay, curfew has been met with just 15 minutes to spare. “Good job, Captain,” the F/O says, “got here just in the nick of time.” Caley flashes a beaming smile and thanks her co-pilot for a job well done.    

WEIGH-IN, RIDDLERS GYM, PERTH, JUNE 2011
IT’S the afternoon of the weigh-in and Caley emerges from the sauna at Fitness First, Subiaco. She wears a space-age-looking silver sweat suit, woollen gloves, socks and thongs. She’s perspiring profusely and is exhausted but after she steps onto the scales and watches the device stop at her fighting weight of 57kg, she releases a triumphant “Yesss!” Her weight is right on the button.

Caley has reached her fighting weight through a stringent combination of diet and training. In two hours, she and her Swedish opponent Madeleine Vall will weigh in at Riddlers Gym. Caley will outweigh the European champion by 100 grams, and will afterwards join several fighters from her gym for a meal at a local eatery. Caley uses a scientific approach to replenishing her body and by bedtime she will return to her pre weigh-in body weight.
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE, PERTH, NOVEMBER 2011
CALEY exits the left-hand seat of the Boeing 737-800 and shakes hands with her first officer, an airline pilot employed by Flight Experience, Perth.  

“That was an awesome experience,” Caley says of her Flight Experience simulator ride. “I’ve always been fascinated by flight and wanted to see what it was like to fly an airliner. It was so realistic, I actually felt like I was flying the 737 between Melbourne and Sydney.”  

A frequent flyer who regularly travels overseas and around Australia, Caley once had a serious fear of flying and after seeing a flight attendant panic during turbulence on a recent flight to Thailand, decided to do something about it. So on a skuddy Sydney morning with low cloud and scattered rain, she braved a trial introductory flight in a two-seat PiperSport. Caley loved it so much she’s seriously considering learning to fly.

“Once my Thai boxing career is over I’d like to take flying lessons,” she says. “I’ve always been mesmerised by the science of flight. Things like aerodynamics and meteorology fascinate me. I used to wonder how a massive machine with hundreds of passengers on board could become airborne and fly between two points on the globe. It’s crazy. And even though I have a better understanding now, I’m still fascinated by the concept and would really love to learn how to fly.”     

Apart from flying the PiperSport and 737 simulator, Caley recently enhanced her aviation education by visiting the cockpit of a Qantas A380 Airbus. “I’m so grateful to Qantas for giving me the opportunity ... sitting in the A380 cockpit was a dream come true,” she says. “I also had the good fortune to speak at length with Stephen Basoff (Qantas operations manager A380 aircraft maintenance) who kindly answered all my questions and gave me a better understanding of how these huge machines stay in the air; and the skill and professionalism required of the pilots who fly them.” 

FIGHT DAY, KING’S PARK, PERTH, JUNE 2011
IT’S lunchtime and Caley sits on a blanket at King’s Park, admiring the picturesque surroundings and majestic view of the Perth city skyline. She nibbles on a nutritious lunch and admits she’s nervous about the upcoming fight, which is just hours away. In her last 15 fights she has won all but one, and this year, she boasts a 100% record from three outings. But the fact that she hasn’t been able to spar for more than a month, not to mention the injuries she has sustained, are cause for concern.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Caley says. “I’ll just have to take the pain and see how far I can push the threshold. There’s a WMC world title at stake and this is what I’ve been training for. This is what makes all the months of pain and sacrifice worthwhile.”
SHOW TIME, CRAIGIE LEISURE CENTRE, PERTH, JUNE 2011
AS Caley strides purposefully towards the ring, her hometown crowd rise as one and roar their support, a cacophany of noise that virtually lifts the roof off the Craigie Leisure Centre. The locals have been entertained by 11 preliminary bouts but this is the one they’ve been waiting for: Caley versus Madeleine, for a world title. There’s almost 2,000 loyal fans inside the arena but despite the local bias, Madeleine Vall waits inside the ring and looks composed, fit and hungry. The national anthems of Australia and Sweden are played and once the pre-fight rituals are complete, the fight for the world title is on.

In an aggressive technical stoush, the fight goes the distance and at the end of five rounds it is Caley’s arm the referee raises in triumph. The crowd goes beserk and Caley’s dazzling smile tells the story. The story of a partnership between husband and wife, fighter and trainer, that has overcome blood, sweat and tears to achieve a dream they’ve pursued for years. The story of a girl who in the past month or so has endured injuries, a measly diet geared towards stripping kilos from her slender frame and a training ethic that defies belief. The story of Caley Reece, a brilliant but humble champion achieving her dream of winning a WMC world title. Who would dare bet against this remarkable athlete from achieving her “other” dream of learning to fly? 

Name: Caley Reece
Age: 32
Lives at: Perth, WA
Titles: WMC World Champion; WPMF World Champion; WMC Intercontinental Champion; WMC Australian champion; WMC WA champion.
Career Highlights: Winning WMC world title, 2011; Silver medallist 2010 World Combat Games, Beijing, China.
Fight Record (as at January 2012): 42 fights, 37 wins, five knockouts.