 This year’s TAGB British Championships was as big as ever, with over 2000 competitors it had to be one of the largest martial arts events in the country. It was an action packed event with a huge amount of TAGB clubs taking part from all over the British Isles as well as competitors from countries such as Poland, Holland, France and Germany making this a truly international event. This year’s TAGB British Championships was as big as ever, with over 2000 competitors it had to be one of the largest martial arts events in the country. This competition was a precursor to the next World Open Taekwondo Championships at the end of June 2007 at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena, which is set to be one of the largest martial arts events ever held. It was an action packed event with a huge amount of TAGB clubs taking part from all over the British Isles as well as competitors from countries such as Poland, Holland, France and Germany making this a truly international event. This year also saw the addition of tag team sparring which will also be included in the World Championships schedule next year, an event which is always entertaining to watch and total fun for the competitors.
One thing that was apparent was due to the growing size of this event, the British Championships in 2007 will need to be held in either a bigger venue or split over two days as the Skydome Arena was crammed to capacity. Hopefully we will have a bit more space next year as otherwise this was a well organised and smoothly run competition.
Ladies and Men’s Results
There were many highlights to this event and some excellent performances from all over the grades but the women’s black belt competition provided the audience with some of the most exciting and dynamic sparring. Tamsin Clark from Nottingham won double gold in both the 2nd Dan and above patterns and the individual middleweight sparring. This young woman, who recently gained her 3rd Dan, has consistently won major national and international titles and is the current world title holder. I for one can’t wait to see her precise and fluid sparring style knock out the opposition in the World’s next year. Charlotte Simpson of King’s Lynn also put in a sterling performance in the same division, her semi-final match against Ms Clark was one of the closest and most exciting sparring matches I’ve seen in some time. Charlotte took third this time but I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more from her in the future.
Lynsay Williams from Ely regained her British title in the ladies 1st Dan patterns with a defined and powerful Ge-Baek, a pattern which Lynsay has made her own. She also gained a third in the individual light heavyweight sparring and second in the ladies tag team sparring, quite an impressive haul of silverware rounding off a very successful 2006.
In the men’s events, Jonathan Walford of Banbury took first place in the men’s heavyweight sparring, beating Holland’s E. Henderik in the final. This again rounds off a successful season for Jonathan where he took the European title in Switzerland in April. Alan Jackson of King’s Lynn and the 2005 British title holder took second place in the men’s light heavyweight division after being narrowly beaten by another Dutch competitor Blocks Hendry. Alan says of his performance, “obviously it was disappointing to lose my title in the final but I’ve had a good year and I’m looking forward to the World’s next year.” Another impressive performance came from Scunthorpe’s Steve Fox who only recently gained his 1st Dan. He fought his way through to the semi-finals where he gained third place, not bad for someone who has just got their black belt.
This Year’s Awards
The awards ceremony for the year’s top performers was dominated by Gordon Fern from Ashbourne. He took the prize for Best Black Belt for his 5th Dan grading performance. He also won International Fighter of the year for his consistently excellent results on the international stage. The 1st Dan black belt award went to Claire Sharples of Oldham who beat several hundred graders to win this prestigious award. Claire graciously says about gaining her award, “there were a lot of people who took the grading that I thought could have definitely been in the run for it, but I was really pleased because it was something that in my mind I had wanted to win when I was going for my black belt.” Claire also managed to gain a third place in the heavyweight ladies sparring which is a fantastic achievement considering she only gained her 1st Dan a month ago. Later, Claire took the time to talk to me about the transition from colour to black belt competition sparring where she explained she was, “going to find this a hard competition, just because the level of nerves was a lot higher.” However, “I found the fights a lot tougher than before as the kicks and punches hit home a lot harder but I was pleased that I came third overall because I can build on that and do better next time.” Claire’s performance and dedication to her training shows that she has a bright Taekwondo career ahead of her.
Ah yes, I was there as well! Your intrepid deputy editor didn’t have a bad day either. My stomach was churning all the way up the A14 because although I had been training really hard for this competition, I promptly caught a cold a few days beforehand. Typical. Not to worry though, I got a third in the patterns, won the sparring after a long and gruelling competition of one whole round due to me going straight into the final after gaining a by in the first round and won the tag team sparring for the blue and red belt division. I had a blast and won some excessively large trophies to put in my small flat!
The tag team sparring was fun and being a skinny lightweight I always relish doing a bit of point stop against women who are much bigger than me. However, I must congratulate my heroic team mates Anthea Joseph from March (who also won the ladies executive blue and red belt sparring) and Rebecca Roberts from the Wirral, who came third in the ladies red belt middleweight sparring. However, I couldn’t help but ponder on the fact that this was my last colour belt British championships and after watching the ladies black belt divisions, I think I’ve got my work cut out!
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