8:54am Friday 12th February 2010
ALL of Kendal Judo Club's five players at the North West Area Judo Championship came back with a medal with black belt David Groom leading the way in double-quick time.
Groom had a ten-second demolition of Saltburn's David Upton on his way to the final.
Then he took only a minute to gain a full-point win over Tom Walker from Kidderminster to gain a gold medal.
Michael Horley faced long-time rival, 3rd Dan Bobby Rich, from London, in his preliminary pool.
Like Murray and Federer in tennis whenever these two meet the result is always in doubt.
This time Michael threw Bobby, but through the vagaries of the draw they came up against each other in the final.
In almost exactly the same time it was Bobby's turn to win with a throw nod hold giving Michael the silver.
Danny Harper threw Warrington's Neil Boote from Warrington to pit himself against regular rival Owen Livesey from Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside in the semi-finals.
Unfortunately he lost this contest but bounced back in the bronze medal fight, beating Ryan Pitlock from Kidderminster with a spectacular throw.
In the coloured belt categories Gavin Towers was supreme in the Under 73kilo weight group, throwing Kazuyuki Fujiwara from Nottingham University to gain his gold.
Iain Abernethy is more at home with karate contests, but he went through to the semi-finals, having lost only to Steven Cowls from Newburn who he then met again in the final, sadly with the same result.
However, the silver medal completed the full house and another successful day for the Kendal club.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/trade_directory/