Isle of Man (Southern) Judo Club brought home a total of four medals and plenty of competitive experience at the Liverpool Open.
Held at Greenbank Sports Academy the weekend before last, first up was youngster Nathan Kennaugh.
Competing for the first time in the under-21s brown belt category, the 17-year-old fought well in his initial two contests.
Unfortunately he lost his first one to a tight referee’s decision, before succumbing to a strangle submission in his second contest, eliminating him from the group stage.
But, with the British Schools’ Judo Championships coming up for Kennaugh next month, he will be grateful of meaningful competition time in his first outing since May 2022.
Also competing for the first time since May was green belt David Dallimore.
Entering the low grade Senior and Masters categories, he had some tough contests in both groups but recorded a strong win by the maximum ippon score to secure bronze in the Senior section and silver in the Masters.
The final competitor to take to the tatami was judo veteran Chris Horton. Following on from his fifth place in the Euromètropole Masters in Lille, France last month, and his nomination in the veteran athlete category for the Isle of Man Sports Awards, expectations were high, and the Peel judoka did not disappoint.
After opting to move up a weight category to compete in the senior heavyweight (+100kg) event, Horton showed great resilience to come back from an early score down to win his first contest via an armlock submission.
He then found himself a score up in the final after a strong counter technique. But his opponent used his height advantage to come back into the contest with a strong throw, so Horton had to settle for the silver medal.
He had little time to regroup, as the black belt Masters category was next in the schedule.
A familiar line-up saw him up against his former Island Games team-mate Andy Lloyd, who now competes nationally for Wales.
Horton secured a scoring technique in the first minute, and then had to use all his skills to prevent his opponent from gaining a score back. This took the contest into golden score extra-time.
After being awarded the victory, Horton knew a win in his final contest against Welsh Masters athlete Stephen Evans would see him secure the gold medal.
Evans started strongly, but Horton was able to counter the Welshman’s throw to get the maximum ippon score and end the contest within 30 seconds.
l The competition squad is next in action at various events during March and April, before travelling to Derry/Londonderry for the Northern Irish Open at the end of April.