The Irish colour belt team took home 13 medals and the junior overall award from the British Open, which was held last weekend in Sheffield. The team members were; Eamonn Maher, Darryl Day, Evan Shortiss, Patrick Nicholson, Gavin O’Hanlon, Patrick Conlon, Billy Tobin, Niamh Cooney, Conor Dunne, Brendan McGarry, Aisling Pyke, and Roisin O’Neill

The team flew in to Doncaster airport on Friday afternoon and took the short taxi ride to the Holiday Inn in Sheffield, where they were staying. After a few hours for rest and food they had a light training session to get them focused and ready for the competition the next day.

The next day the competitors made the 10 minute walk to the Ponds Forge Sports Centre were the event was been held. The venue was impressive and contained six matted rings. The Irish colour belt team installed themselves in a section of the seats and hung up their Irish flags.

As usual the competition started with patterns. The team performed well and their patterns reflected their training. The Irish competitors picked up 5 gold and 2 bronze in this event (see below for full results). Ten year old green belt, Roisin O’Neill from Carrick-on-Suir, gave an outstanding performance of Won Hyo Tul and the whole stadium applauded when she took the gold.

The sparring event saw the team try many of the techniques which they were practicing in training. They picked up 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze in the sparring and many of them showed good potential for the future.

The final events of the day for the team were the special technique and the power. They hadn’t been squad training specifically for these events but most would have been practising their power in their own dojang. The junior power turned into an exciting shoot out between Irish team mates Gavin O’Hanlon and Brendan McGarry. Eventually Brendan took the gold. Patrick Nicholson made it to the final of the U13 special technique. Again it was an exciting final with both Patrick and his English opponent repeatedly clearing the hurdles in the fly-over. Unfortunately the English boy just pipped Patrick to the gold.

With his 2 gold and a bronze Brendan McGarry from Carrick-on-Suir won the award for best overall junior. He was presented with a beautiful 50 years of Taekwon-Do plate showing Grandmaster Rhee performing his world famous split kick.

After a long day the squad headed out for a well deserved dinner. For many of them this was the highlight of the day as we had booked a table in the No. 1 Oriental Buffet. At £10 a head for all you can eat it is doubtful if the restaurant made any money on this hungry group of Irish competitors.

Irish Colour Belt Team Results

Brendan McGarry: Gold Patterns, Gold Power, Bronze Sparring (Best Overall Junior)

Conor Dunne: Gold Patterns, Silver Sparring

Eamonn Maher: Bronze Patterns

Darryl Day: Gold Patterns

Evan Shortiss: Silver Sparring

Gavin O’Hanlon: Gold Sparring

Patrick Conlon: Gold Patterns

Niamh Cooney: Silver Sparring

Aisling Pyke: Bronze Patterns

Roisin O’Neill: Gold Patterns