Pre-Christmas medal haul for Bridgeview Judo Club

At the recent Ashington orange belt and under event Louie Hanna brought home a silver medal, whilst Holly Bellamy, Elsie Riggs and Maive McGowan claimed bronze medal places. Louie Hanna was superb for all of his fights but ran out of steam right at the end. Holly Bellamy suffered at the hands of bigger, stronger and more experienced opponents but battled on and managed to end up winning for her medal position. Elsie Riggs was similarly outgunned but still came out smiling and ready for her next event. This was young Maeve McGowan’s first ever competitive event and she experienced the difference between competition and training practice. She made good progress throughout her bouts.

At the Kin Ryu event George Armstrong excelled in the senior event with some very quick, decisive victories that secured him sufficient points for his promotion to first dan (black belt) on top of his gold medal. At the opposite end of the gradingspectrum young Aiden Redway, in his first ever competition, won all of his bouts with some excellent judo and also won a gold medal. Louie Hanna, Holly Bellamy and Sarah Chatfield lost just one of their fights to safely secure silver medals for the club.

These were excellent performances, and Louie Hanna especially was on top form right up until his final fight. Completing the medal tally, Grace Chatfield, Joe McGowan, Amelija Andruse, Alekss Andruss, Jason Tzavaras, Maive McGowan and Elsie Riggs all brought home bronze medals. With recent grade and weight changes, some of these players found themselves up against very tough opponents but their fighting spirit was superb.

All in all the weekend offered the Bridgeview Judo Club coaching team lots to be proud of as they now start to prepare for the Christmas break.