THE junior karate team from the Mizukara Karate clubs in Newtownards, Bangor and Holywood were back at the top of the medal table at the recent WUKF Ireland Cross-Border Karate Championships, held in Donegal.
Sisters Megan and Rachel Benson were in the thick of the medals. Megan took gold in her individual kata (patterns), step-up kata and the Pairs Kata with Dylan McBride along with silver in team rotation kumite (fighting) with Freya Grindle.
Sister Rachel got gold in her kata, silver in Juraken (punch-bag), and bronze in both her Ippon and Sanbon kumite.
Competition newcomer Sophie-Rose O’Mara was delighted to win her first ever medal in her individual kata.
Mother and daughter Victoria and Heidi Magreehan claimed their first family kata gold following two great performances of Pinan Nidan and Shodan.
Heidi then followed that performance up to win team rotation kumite gold with Sydney Murdoch. Sydney then added three more silvers in her kata, step-up kata and individual kumite and bronze in her Nihon kumite.
Training mates Dylan McBride and Caleb Orchin were back on the podium together once more. They added team rotation kumite gold to Dylan’s pairs kata gold. Then Dylan and Caleb took gold and silver respectively in their individual kumite event.
The final gold for the team was claimed by Ben Ritchie in his step-up kata. He then added double silver in his two kumite events and bronze in his regular kata category.
The youngest boys on the team also shone at this event with Noah Parker and Joel Orchin both claiming silver medals in Ippon Kumite and Juraken respectively and Lewis Grindle taking an excellent double bronze in both his kata and kumite.
Coaches Amy Adair, Anna McCormick and Victoria Magreehan were very happy with the team’s results.
Amy commented it was a very busy championship and their students shone across all the categories.
“So many great performances,” she said. “I was particularly pleased for Sophie-Rose, Rachel and Lewis who could not be denied a medal in their respective events. Congratulations to the whole team.”








