In the Michaelmas term the newly formed Lancaster University Karate Society travelled to two competitions to allow members an opportunity to compete, and for some to gain experience in competition karate.
They also attended an event at the end of Week Four of Lent Term with the aim to get some more competition practice before BUCS in March which all members will be aiming to peak for to build on the success the squad had there last year.
The first competition was an invitational event in Welbeck, Loughborough. The society took five competitors; Gareth Dunkerley (Captain), Craig Noble, Chau Nguyen, Paul Meadowcroft and Becky Clark (President).
In one of the first events of the day, Becky just lost out on a bronze medal in kata, making it to the quarter finals and then narrowly missing out in repecharge. Paul made it to the semi-finals in kata but unfortunately lost in this round.
In the individual fighting categories Craig, Chau, and Paul all performed very well, but were unfortunate not to make it to a medal position with Craig having to withdraw due to injury and Chau losing in the quarter finals. However, Gareth managed to win all of the preliminary rounds and also won the final fight to secure a gold medal. Becky also made it to the final of the fighting where she gained silver.
The second competition was held at Teeside University and the society was represented by four competitors, Gareth Dunkerley, Alisia Evans, Sarah Williams and Becky Clark.
In kata, Becky performed well and gained a bronze medal. In the individual fighting, both Becky and Gareth narrowly lost in their respective finals resulting in both taking silver medals, whilst Alisia and Sarah were awarded bronze medals. This was a particularly impressive result for Sarah as this was her first competition, having only done karate for 10 weeks and for Alisia as she has not competed in several years.
Gareth was then invited to join another men’s team with competitors from Leeds and Middlesbrough. The men’s team event was filmed and showcased as it was trialling a different rules system where instead of 3 fighters having a 2 minute fight each, they fought for 24 minutes between them. Despite the new and unexpected rules, Gareth and his team members fought well to come out with the gold medal.
The last event of the day was the women’s team event, where Becky, Alisia and Sarah defeated Teeside University, having secured their place in the final, to take a gold medal away from the event.
The third competition was again held at Welbeck, specifically arranged for BUCS preparation. In the kata event, Becky and Alisia were unfortunate to be eliminated in the bronze medal rounds. In the individual fighting, Gareth stormed through the preliminary rounds winning 9-1, then 10-0 and took Gold in the final with a score of 4-0. Similarly, Becky reached the final winning 10-0. Alisia also won her preliminary round (7-1) and gained a silver medal in the final fight. Sarah performed extremely well in her individual rounds, but unfortunately lost out on a bronze medal after some questionable decisions by the officials.
The women’s team consisted of Becky, Alisia and Sarah who won the event, beating Lincoln University and the Welbeck women’s team. The victory was clear with scores of 8-0, 6-2 and 4-1 to Lancaster. Gareth joined another male team on the day and helped them to also secure a gold medal by defeating the Welbeck team and Loughborough University on the way to a final against Lincoln University where the team Gareth was part of came out convincing winners. This event proved to be great preparation for the BUCS Championships.
Having only been training since Michaelmas term, and as a brand new society for this year, to take 8 individual and 4 team medals away from 3 competitions is a great achievement.
Anyone who is interested in joining the society, please email [email]lancasterkarate@hotmail.co.uk[/email] – we accept new members at any time in the year.
