The Campbell River Judo Club sent 16 competitors this past weekend to the BC Judo Championships in Abbotsford and brought back an impressive haul of five gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
Starting off the weekend was Senseis Darcy Yule and Chris Petersen who competed in two Kata divisions (Nage no Kata & Goshin Jitsu) winning gold and silver respectively.
Owen Wellard, the youngest CRJC member attending the tournament was the first to win gold and highlighted his tournament with a beautiful O Goshi (major hip throw) for the win.
Other gold medal performances were turned in by Jamiliya Wellard, Anthony Henry and Maggie Cramb – who was participating in her first tournament after joining the club this season.
Haley Henry, hot off her bronze medal at Canadian nationals in July won two silver medals; one in her own division and one in the next age bracket above hers.
Thomas Connor, Wyatt Huggins and Emily Matkovich also brought home second place finishes.
Tommy Pfeifer, Kelsey Painter and Jake Misky won bronze medals and showed a lot of heart in some very tough matches, many against more experienced opponents.
Rounding out the tournament was Daniel Henry, Marc Comeau and Jason Wellard who all three competed for the first time in the Brown/Black belt divisions and had great showings with the highlight being Comeau throwing a 150 kg opponent and winning the match by pinning him to the mats.
To view highlights from this weekend or get information regarding the Campbell River Judo Club visit them on Facebook (cr judoclub) or at www.crjudoclub.com