All the Juniors represented GKR well, with everyone placing in all events contested. Continuous events were first, with Lucille Lott and James Swift placing second in their respective sections of the 12 - 14 year event. Jasmine Harford took on the boys in the 10-11 year combined event but found her 1st round opponent a bit too strong. Callum Boyd and Ben Tynan made the final of the 15-17 year Male event, with the more experienced Callum getting the judges' decision. Jasmine Harford won the Forms and placed second in Sparring in the 10-11 year Advanced competition. James Swift was our representative in the 12-13 year Novice division and he took out Forms but found his opponent had a bit too much reach to finish in second place in Sparring. Jason Spiteri took out Forms with Lucille Lott second in the 12-13 year Advanced section. Jason and Lucille took out their respective male and female Sparring competitions. We had two new competitors in the 14-15 year novice section and both did well. In Forms, Mary Kelly was first and Elise Tyler second, while in Female Sparring, Mary was second and Elise third. In the Advanced section, Daniel Andrew took out the combined Forms event, with Margie Hookway second. Daniel was runner up in Male Sparring, while Margie took out the Female event. In 16 - 17 years Advanced Forms, Ben Tynan placed second and Callum Boyd fourth. Callum made the Sparring final and was narrowly outpointed, while Ben took out third place.
The Male Intermediate Forms event saw David Boyd take out second place, Steve Tyler third and Simon Muir just outside of the places. In Sparring, David, Steve and Simon all narrowly lost early rounds but Simon took out the third place bout over David. Nathaniel Drabsch, making a return to competition after a few years away, took out both Forms and Sparring in Male Advanced. In Female Advanced, Zoe Tyler took out Forms from Kate Jamieson, whilst in Sparring, Kate was second and Zoe placed third.
Veteran action saw Barb Hesselschwerdt take out the combined Forms event. Mary Bambacus and Linda Neighbour tied for third place, with Mary taking out the position after a second Form. David Boyd and Julie Tynan were unplaced. In Sparring, Steve Tyler won the Male event and David lost the third place bout to finish fourth. Barb took out the double in winning the Female final over Linda, with Julie placing third. The Male Senior Continuous event had two GKR representatives. Both Nik McDonald and David Boyd missed out on the final, with Nik taking out the third place bout from David to take home the trophy.
Julie Tynan was our only representative in Female Black Belt Open and she took out second place in both Forms and Sparring. Both Coaches took part in the Male Black Belt Open events, with Shane in Forms and Jeremy in Sparring. Shane led the way in Forms, placing third in a very strong competition. Nik McDonald was fourth, with Ian Rollings unplaced. In Sparring, Ian was unfortunate to lose his first round fight, but Jeremy Thompson had a comfortable win to advance to the semi-finals. Nik had a first round bye to go straight through to the semi finals, but also lost a close bout. However, Jeremy had another comfortable win to advance to the final. Nik first fought the third place bout but lost narrowly to finish in fourth place. The final was a close bout but to the delight of the many GKR supporters, Jeremy came out on top and took out the Sparring event.
With many other team members being available for Round 2, Coaches Sensei's Jeremy and Shane are looking forward to an even more successful Tournament in July. The support of non competing team members was much appreciated as was the coaching assistance. Well done to all on a great start to the year. Thanks to John McDonald, Lesley McDonald, Linda Neighbour and Drew Andrew for Photos and Tamsin Ing for video.
Additional Photos
Forms and Sparring: Daniel Andrew, Nik McDonald, Steve Tyler,
Colour Shots: The Minder, Lesley and Shane, Mary and Kate, Nathaniel, Peace Man, Who's On Next?, Rhiannon and Lesley, Three Wise Monkeys
Videos in the Video Gallery
