Mr Kelly set off in the minibus at 4am to collect the squad, and by 5am we were on the motorway zooming towards Cardiff. The 11 competitors and 4 spectators from Shaftesbury arrived at 9am and managed to find a space in the already packed car park – the turnout was massive, around 400 competitors and probably more spectators meant the space in the hall was extremely limited!Patience was the unofficial tenet of the day, as more competitors meant more time spent waiting..

The 5 rings opened at 9:30am and the action began with all black belt categories – Mr Morris picked up a Bronze in patterns and sparring, Mr Carr grabbed a silver for patterns. The competition was intense, as the standard was as usual very high! The black belts finished at around 2pm, and the colour belts warmed up ready to get started.. James, William, Luke, Michael and Luke gave a solid performance in all categories – in many cases making it through one or two heats, William was awarded a bronze for sparring.

“Boards don’t hit back” .. maybe not, but they can certainly do your hand some damage! Matt Walls could be seen with an impressive bandage holding his broken hand together after attempting destruction – it didn’t stop him competing in patterns though, good effort Matt! The colour belt action progressed, and Ady Prins got bronze in patterns, Matty Millington and Adam French went into a sparring showdown for their category – Matty was successful in going on to get the Gold and Adam the Silver!

We left Penarth at around 9pm – Thanks to all those who competed! The people who make these kinds of events possible all deserve a
mention: Masters, Instructors, Coaches, Umpires, Volunteers, Students, Competitors, Supporters and Drivers.. When these people come together it makes a fantastic TKD competition –

Thank you, special thanks to Master Lawes for organising the day.