Causeway Judo players set for British Championships

SIX members of Causeway Judo Club will be packing their bags for the British Championships next month after a hugely impressive showing at the Northern Ireland Closed Championships.

Causeway took home a total of five goal medals from the competition held at Carrickfergus Ulidia Integrated College.

Cameron Ashcroft won five out of five fights in the under 42kg category while his brother Jacob came out on top in four in the under 34kg section.

Davy Michael was victorious in the heavyweights while Rebecca and Steven Cuckoo - who are also members of the Coleraine Judo Club - bagged the top gongs in the under 70kg and under 73kg classes respectively.

As well as the impressive haul of golds, Causeway also scooped four silver medals through Kurtis Ashcroft, Stewart and Conor Phillips and Diane Peden.

This was a remarkable achievement for Diane in particular as it was her first major competition though she is regarded as a rising star of the sport with a big future ahead in judo.

Chris Gaile and Mark Alexander took bronze in two extremely tough sections.

Brandon Boyd also performed well and was praised for his technique. With a little more experience under his belt he is considered a real talent for the future.

The competition is considered one of the most important in the judo calendar as all those who took gold and silver in the junior sections automatically qualify for the British Championships next month.

Head coach of Causeway Judo Club, Alan Ashcroft, told Times Sport he was delighted with their showing in Carrickfergus.

“It is great for the club and the town as a whole to have such a wealth of talent in judo,” he said.

“We have six members of Causeway in the Northern Ireland team as well for the British Championships which is excellent.

“All those who took part performed well and were rewarded for the hard work they put in at training week in, week out.

“There is a really good crop of judo players coming through in this area at the minute and they’re really putting the town on the map.”

Alan said judo players were benefiting from additional training sessions in wrestling.

The coach - who won a medal at the Commonwealth Championships for judo in recent years - also takes the wrestling sessions and said that by mixing the disciplines his students were developing their all-round skill.

To find out more about Causeway Judo Club visit their Facebook site.