Northern Open Karate Championships:
Following Saturdays hugely successful North Wales Open, 9 of the squad travelled to Warrington for the Northern Open Classic Championships where they were joined by 4 more competitors from Swansea university. After signing in at 9am the long wait began until the 1st kumite event started after 3pm. Tom Hole was 1st up and repeated the previous days gold medal – Tom won 5 fights all within 45 seconds to claim the Boys 6-8yrs title. Next up was Toms sister Becky, who went one better than the previous day, winning Silver in the Girls 9-10yrs.
It was a full 3 hours before Jodie Denton and Holly Carey stepped up for the Senior Ladies. Holly Carey, who has only been competing for 6 months, performed exceptionally well beating much more experienced competitors to claim a well deserved Bronze.
Next up was Nic Hole in the 11-13 boys. Nic fought superbly winning his 1st 3 fights against much larger opponents, before losing out in the 1/4 finals, after being penalised for avoiding contact despite being blatantly pushed off the tatami.
The Senior Mens started at 9pm ( just as the 1st aid were leaving! ). Ryan Phillips, Rhys Edwards and Mark McMahon all fought well before losing out to some highly “debatable” decisions. Mark & Rhys settling on Top8 placings.
Due to the late hour & the lack of recognised 1st Aid cover the decision was made to pull out of the Team events and head for home.
A long and frustrating day but a valuble lesson for our less experienced fighters.