Imperial Taekwon-Do Scotland – British Championships 2010 


On Friday 8th October, eleven talented and competition hungry students and supporters from I.T.A Scotland’s Queen Margaret University’s Taekwon-Do Club embarked on what was to become one of the most memorable and successful trips in recent years.  Lead by their instructor and Scotland National Team member, Mr Peter R Scott, the enthusiastic and rather loud club travelled southwards to London to compete in the UKITF British Open Championships hosted by Master Trevor Nicholls.  


The event attracted more than 750 competitors from around the world including participants from Ireland, Wales, South Africa, Nepal, Italy and Spain. Many of these international martial arts enthusiasts held current European and World titles ensuring the event remained as the premier tournament within Great Britain for ITF style Taekwon-Do. 


Along with Master Nicholls, there were many other inspiring Taekwon-Do dignitaries with Master Wolf, Master Hogan and Master Wood all in attendance and casting their watchful eye over their own students and the rest of the proceedings.    


For many of us from Q.M.U Taekwon-Do Club, this was our first taste of the British Championships and what a taste it was! Despite the step up in competition, we were getting in on the medal action on Saturday with 3 of our 4 Senior students taking the title of British Champion with gold in patterns, two golds in sparring and gold in destruction.


During all the first day’s excitement, the weigh-in station was opened for those competing on both days and many of Sunday''s competitors took advantage of this on the Saturday to enable them to relax and enjoy a nice dinner on Saturday night!  


The success continued for our well fed students on Sunday with every single one of our 7 students competing that day taking at least one medal position each. With 3 British Champions, 1 silver medallist and 2 bronze medallists in sparring, 3 silver medallists in patterns and 1 British Champion in destruction. 


Our club students fought and competed with such incredible passion and bravery that they managed to achieve the following impressive medal haul from the weekend:


Mr Mark Vaughan                      Gold     -           Senior   -           Patterns


Mr Gavin Robertson                    Silver    -           Adult     -          Sparring


Mr Brad Robertson                     Gold     -           Junior    -          Sparring


Miss Chloe Gault                       Bronze  -           Junior    -          Sparring


Lynsey Hope                             Gold     -           Adult     -           Destruction


                                                Silver    -           Adult     -           Patterns


                                                Bronze  -           Adult     -          Sparring


Scott Johnstone-Jones               Gold     -           Senior   -           Sparring


                                                Gold     -           Senior   -           Destruction


Chris Devine                              Gold     -           Adult     -           Sparring


James Jappy                             Gold     -           Senior   -           Sparring


Kirsty Mackenzie                       Gold     -           Adult     -           Sparring


                                                Silver    -           Adult     -           Patterns


Struan Mackenzie                      Silver    -           Adult     -           Patterns


 


This gave a grand total of 14 British Championship medals, with 8 of them gold. An absolutely fantastic performance from everyone! 


Congratulations also to Brandon Leckie from Ayrshire Imperial Taekwon-Do who travelled down to Reading where they joined up with QMU TKD. In his first British Championships, Brandon managed to secure a well earned bronze medal in his sparring category as well as getting to the semi-final of his patterns group. 


We hope that this year''s British Championships has put I.T.A Scotland’s QMU Taekwon-Do Club firmly on the Imperial map and if you didn''t see us, I’m sure you would have heard us due to our fantastic group of QMU TKD supporters! If there had been a competition for supporters, I am sure we would have taken gold in that category as well!! 


The QMU branch of Imperial Scotland has been operating under Mr Scott''s guidance for a mere 15 months and has already proved a breeding ground for success with several students taking medals in competitions up and down the country.  


Our thanks go to Master Nicholls, Mr Skyrme and the rest of the Imperial Taekwon-Do team for hosting such a well organised event and for making this the best tournament we have competed in to date.  


See you all next year! 


Taekwon, 


Chris Devine