February was an outstanding month for Strathclyde’s Judo team who managed an extraordinary haul of 12 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals in BUCS competition, alongside 12 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals in SSS competition. Such recent prowess has justifiably seen them shortlisted for the NUS Sports Club of The Year Award.
The BUCS individual and team championships were held in at All Saints school in Sheffield and there were some exceptional individual and collective performances. In the Women’s u63kg Dan-grade Kerry Thompson took gold in a category full of national and international Judo-ka. National debutant Claire Rimicans also took gold in the u70kg Kyu-Grade competition. Anna Hulme finished fifth in the same divison.
All three comprised the intervarsity women’s team which beat Imperial college- London and Warwick University to eventually claim silver after being beaten by Birmingham in the final.
This ladies team plus two more competitors from West of Scotland University and Aberdeen combined for the regional stage of the competition. This sees Scotland vs London and the South East vs the West and South-West of England. The Scottish ladies team proved too strong and eventually took gold and won the Malcolm Limrick Ladies Team Trophy.
Success didn’t stop there however as Dominic Laing took Bronze in the Men’s u100kg Dan-grade category which was full of elite British Judo talent. Michael Love took a commendable 5th place in the u81kg Dan-grade category in what was his first BUCS competition. Neither competitor would leave without tasting gold, however, as both were part of the 10-man Scotland regional team, along with Ian Shand, which won the competition and the BUCS Judo Presidents Shield which Scottish University teams have now won four years in a row.
Not content with cleaning up a vast number of medals down south, the Judo club also did extremely well the following weekend in the Scottish Student Sport championships. Kerry Thompson, Claire Rimicans and Anna Hulme took gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. The trio also combined again for the intervarsity team competition and this time won gold in the final.
The Men’s team of: Alistair Lee, Martin Werno, Martin Engert, Declan Bryans(Capt) and Mihhail Selivanov also won the intervarsity competition, adding another gold to the already substantial collection. Individually, the competitors were no less impressive or dominant as their team effort and below are the SSS individual results.
Under 66 kilo Dan — Alistair Lee — Silver: 2nd Place
Under 66 kilo Dan — Ian Shand — Bronze: 3rd Place
Under 73 kilo Kyu — Daniel Kane — Bronze: 3rd Place
Under 81 kilo Dan — Michael Love — Gold & Champion
Under 81 kilo Dan — Martin Werno — Silver: 2nd Place
Under 81 kilo Dan — Martin Egbert — Bronze: 3rd Place
Under 100 kilo Dan — Mihhail Selivanov — Gold & Champion
Under 100 kilo Dan — Declan Bryan — Bronze: 3rd Place
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John Watt, 6th Dan head coach of Strathclyde will have been ecstatic at the performances and results in recent weeks, he commented that
“This year’s judo club performance at Scottish and British student national individual and team judo championships has been exceptional. Most of the students at the club are first years and to have produced the performances that they did was quite fantastic to watch”
This young, talented base of the Judo club will be hungry to build on this success, and they will have plenty of time to do so. Being nominated for the Sports Club of the Year Award is a reflection of the work and hours each member has put into their training and win or lose, these results signify a club where gold, is the standard.
