Karate: North team take deep bow

Whangarei's Miyagi Kan Karate Club, from back left, Lorenzo Ear, 14, Shane Tregidga, 22, Teuarangi Tana, 15; (middle row) D'Atagnan Gould, 10, Tynika Lafaele-Edwards, 12; (front row) Cameron Sear, 12, Kingi Tana, 9, and Imogen Ear, 10.Photo/Tania Newman

A hat-trick of wins to Shane Tregidga was the highlight when a group of nine Northlanders won five titles at the Karate New Zealand Nationals Miyagi Kan Championships.

The Northland team - Tregidga, TeUarangi Tana, Lorenzo Ear, Tynika Lafaele-Edwards, Cameron Sear, D'Artagnan Gould, Imogen Ear, Kingi Tana, and Max Stevens - picked up five golds and six bronzes.

Tregidga completed the hat-trick in winning the 84kg kumite at last week's event but the 22-year-old wasn't the only one to create a buzz.

Tana came first in the 14-15 kata dev while Lafaele-Edwards won the kumite section in the 12-13 age group. And the results didn't stop there.

Sear claimed gold in the 10-11 years 40kg kumite and Gould took out the kata dev in the 10-11 age range.

Picking up bronze medals were TeUarangi in kumite, Gould in the 40kg kumite, Imogen in the 10-11 kata and kumite, and Kingi in the 8-9 kata and kumite.

Claiming Whangarei's only individual silver medal was Lafaele-Edwards, with Tana and Ear taking silver in the 10-13 year olds' team kata event.

Whangarei's Miyagi Kan Karate Club sensei Craig Nordstrand said it was pleasing to see his small bunch of kids pick up so many medals and good results.

He said everyone performed admirably and it showed hard work could pay off, no matter the age.

"It is the best results we've had in many years," Nordstrand said. "You get generations that come through - it goes around in cycles sometimes.

"The next best was six years ago and that was when Shane [Tregidga] came through and he's still going. We've got a lovely bunch of kids coming through at the moment ... we didn't lose a final but we had a lot of hard luck bronzes, where they matched up with the eventual winners in the semifinals.

"I think the hard work we've put into the whole thing since the kids put their goals in the start of the year,is helping them reach their goals."