KENDAL Judo Club’s Isaac Hill ended a spectacular year on the mat with a bronze medal at the British National Championships in Sheffield.

As an added bonus it also gave him a place on the British Judo Association National Junior Squad.

The day started badly for Hill when he was drawn against Gary Hall, the No.1 seed, in his first contest.

Although the Kendal player eventually lost to a small score he took the Nottingham player to time, the only opponent to do so all day.

But a win in his second contest against Jack Ross from Wallsend put Hill through to the second round.

The competition was run as a round robin system and in the second round eighth seed Hill had to contend with the second, third and fourth seeds.

A very close win against No. 3 Peter Miles and a small score loss to No. 2 and eventual winner Neil MacDonald from Scotland put Hill against Isaac Gagin from Lutterworth in a must win contest if the Kendal player was to progress any further.

The two judoka had met twice before with one win each and Gagin was well ahead in scores when with just four seconds to go to the end of the contest a spectacular throw from Hill for the full point win to put him through to the final round.

In his last contest of the day Hill threw George Goldsmith from London to the floor to claim bronze.