THIRTEEN was not unlucky for the Samurai Judo Club as they swept up 13 gold medals out of the 16 categories at the Cockburn Cup. Bewdley Judo Club took two of the remaining gold medals and with Stourport Judo Club also taking four silvers and bronzes it was a very successful event for the Wyre Forest clubs.
A total of 10 clubs from a 40- mile radius of Kidderminster took part. George Leverton, whose elder brother and sister and mother have won numerous medals for the club, kept up a family tradition, by taking gold in the youngest and lightest boys age group with four maximum points wins.
Michael Circus was the Samurai player in the next category and also took gold, three of his wins coming in just 30, three and two seconds respectively.
Oliver Perry made it a hat-trick of golds for Samurai with three maximum point wins, while there was no stopping Mark Circus who became his family's second gold medallist of the day.
Unstoppable Edward Connor defeated everybody in style and with impressive ease to increase the glut of golds.
Andrew Beveridge made it six golds in a row with another impressive show, before Bewdley's David Sullivan temporarily broke Samurai's dominance when he beat Simon Cooper in the final.
The Samurai girls started in the same way as the boys with newcomer Cara Galloway storming to gold in the first category.
Poppy James and Lottie Millington contested the final of the second category, with James predictably ending with gold and Millington silver. Kathryn Lowe also swept everybody aside on her way to the third girls' gold.
Bewdley's Jessica Sullivan gave her club their second gold of day by overcoming Beth Coleman
The next girls' category also saw a Samurai stranglehold of the medals with Sophie Thomas clinching gold and Amy Lawton silver with Charlotte Morgan and Deanna Murphy taking the bronzes.
In the final girls' category, Hannah Cooper and Amy Millington contested another all-Samurai final with the former coming out on top.
The senior competition consisted of a category for highly experienced ladies so that the juniors could see top class players in action, and two senior men's newcomers categories.
Samurai's international star Kate Walker treated the audience to a series of spectacular maximum point throws as she took gold and the Cockburn Ladies Cup itself.
In the senior young men's section, Samurai's James Parkes was in superb form to take another gold for the club. In the "dads" section, there were excellent efforts from the Samurai quartet of Mike Beveridge, Bill Bassett, George Circus and Peter Jones, who shared the bronzes and two special awards.
But it was Stourport's Peter Whittle who went past all of them and into the final where he secured a silver medal after a tremendous contest.
Medals list
Gold: Samurai members - Walker (also won Cockburn Ladies Cup), G Leverton, Michael Circus, O Perry, Mark Circus, Edward Connor, A Beveridge, Galloway, James, Lowe, Thomas, H Cooper, Parkes. Bewdley members - D Sullivan, J Sullivan.
Silver: Samurai - S Cooper, L Millington, Sally Moon, Lawton, Coleman, A Millington. Stourport - P Whittle.
Bronze: Samurai - Ashley Chambers, Luke Tramontana, Thomas Wilkes, Craig Seldon, Diana Barber-Hunt, Rachel Moon, Deanna Murphy X 2, Charlotte Morgan, Amy Lawton, Emma Eaton, Cara Galloway, Sarah Biles, Mike Beveridge, Bill Bassett, George Circus, Peter Jones. Stourport - Simon Whittle, Richard Ray. Magnus Whittle.
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