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If you were using 2.5 twin and earth which seems likely, it's rated at about 20amps. The cold cranking amps of my r80 for example is 400amps, so it's not surprising that you had problems. That's why the short run from the battery to the starter is more like 16mm sq and it uses a relay to connect it directly for the length of time that it needs to turn over.
If you had kept adding pieces of wire in parallel and used the shortest possible run you would have got there eventually.
It would also have been drawing the maximum amperage to begin the turning process, once it's turning it draws much less.
Airhead
My bike died in the middle of town and a friendly polish builder tried to help me jump-start off his van. He didn't have any jump leads so we attempted to use some ordinary domestic wiring from the back of his van.
It was horrible, even wearing gloves the wire got too hot to hold, and the insulation started smoking before my bike would even think about turning over.