Whanganui City College Judo Club coach Garry Davies won gold in the male masters under 90kg class at the Judo New Zealand North Island Championships on the weekend. Photo / Supplied
All five Whanganui City College Judo Club judokas who competed in the North Island Championships at Kāpiti came home with a medal.
The competitors are coached by Garry Davies, who took out gold in the male masters under 90kg class.
Davies praised his competitors.
"The standard was reasonably high, the fighters who turn up to fight want the titles, so they competed hard and our results were good," he said.
"I couldn't ask for anything more, they're good people to coach and I'm absolutely happy."
In the junior girls class, Jamie Connelly earned a bronze medal. Joining her with a bronze was Kaleb Glen in the cadet men.
Angus Rhodes secured silver in the senior men, as did Finn Brown in the senior men under 73kg, while also picking up a bronze in the men's open class.
"These guys have been training for this for the past six weeks, young Jamie, it was her first major competition, so she did really well," Davies said.
"Not just to get through the training to get to it, but to actually medal at that level, in that type of arena, that was impressive."
Davies started the club 16 years ago. They train on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Whanganui City College gym on Ingestre St.
"I started the club to give the kids something different to do, instead of the normal mainstream sports and it has grown from there.
"There are two clubs here, so judo in Whanganui is quite strong. We're a small town but we produce some very good judo players."
The other club is Wanganui Judo Club on Wicksteed Street and they took a team of nine to the championships, three of whom returned home with a medal.
Jordana Vuleta, Sariah Hudson and Marshall Littlefair all scored bronze in the senior girls, junior girls and senior boys respectively.
Wanganui Judo Club coach Wayne Watson said a lot of his competitors were at their first tournament and that they all fought hard.
The next big competition that both clubs will be represented at will be the Judo New Zealand National Championships starting October 27 in Christchurch.
At age 57, Davies said it was nice to still be able to compete and medal.
"It's a great sport, you meet a lot of people, share a whole lot of different skills and it keeps you fit, focused and disciplined.
"It's about the love of the sport, you can compete and do judo right through until you basically can't walk anymore."
The track is set to be resurfaced for the first time since 2012.