Gold standard at Ulster Championships

DELIVERING another gold standard performance in the way of the fist and foot at the Ulster Championships held in Silverbridge was the troupe of talented martial artists from Cathal Fegan’s School of Taekwon-do.

Over the course of a long and exhaustive day the practitioners from both the Silverbridge and Newry clubs competed alongside a myriad of other competitors from the province of Ulster as well as from as far afield as Cork, Dundalk and Tipperary in both patterns and sparring.

Ever true to form the students from the Newry and Silverbridge club’s delivered nothing short of a gold standard performance demonstrating that when it comes to martial arts mastery there are very that can compete with the standard of Cathal Fegan’s club.

Out of a competition that attracted over 120 competitors both the Newry and Silverbridge clubs walked away with 13 and 16 gold medals respectively as well as having both the first and second largest medal haul of any of the multitude of clubs that stepped onto the mat to draw hands.

Suffice to say with 29 gold medals slung around the necks of his students instructor Fegan is extremely proud of the effort and hard work put in by his pupils that was necessary for them to be crowned champions of Ulster.

Champions

“We did brilliantly, everything went well and There was a good turnout from clubs across the north.

“We had clubs from Belfast, Hollywood, Omagh, Craigavon, Lurgan, Banbridge, Newry, Armagh city and Silverbridge Club. We also had clubs from Dundalk/Louth Village, Cork and Tipperary.

“There were over 120 competitors at least. This is one of the best turnouts over the year and the Silverbridge GAA club was packed. There must have been over 400 people there at one stage including parents, spectators, umpires and competitors. I had the whole event live streamed on Facebook because it was such a prestigious event. You could not move in it as the place was bunged.

“We did brilliantly, the Newry club won the most medals, with Silverbridge coming second.

In total the Silverbridge club won 16 gold , 14 silver and 24 bronze medals whilst the Newry Club won 13 gold, 17 silver and 26 Bronze medals.

“Amy Bantleman won double gold as well as being named black belt competitor of the day Ethan O'Kane won gold in sparing and silver in patterns. My two wee cousins Louis and Molly won gold as well. Ross Lynch lost in the finals against a strong fighter. His sister fought well and won gold.

“Even the students that don't travel around the country turned up to the Ulster's and won gold. “These are the students that I am hoping will gain a bit of confidence and then travel to more tournaments. Our club relies on competitors as we are a very competitor-based club and a lot of martial arts clubs stay in their own four walls but we bring the art across the world.”

Whilst the dust may still only be settling on the mats in which many a magnificent bout was held over the weekend in Silverbridge, Cathal and his students already have their sights set on even higher aspirations for next years Ulster Championships.

“We were chatting to the team committee afterwards and they announced that the next Ulster Championships are going to be held in Newry next year.

“We are hoping that it will be held in the sports centre. With an event like this in Newry we can have more rings, more competitors and more people would travel to Newry because it is a city. If we could move the event next year to the sports centre with the bleachers it would be amazing to have it held there. “