HOSTS Samurai Judo Club won the toughest category at the Bev Price Memorial Team Championships.
The Kidderminster club held the major team event for the 10th year at Walsall Campus Sports Centre.
They celebrated by winning the men’s section, silvers in the women’s and girls’ lightweights and a bronze for the women’s ‘B’ team.
Samurai started well with their girls’ lightweight team which comprised of Pippa Harper and Frankie Marston but missed the injured Bryony Griffiths.
They defeated Stafford, the Wirral and two teams from Pyrford to reach the final.
But Pinewood, the strongest junior club in Great Britain, proved too much and Samurai had to settle for silver.
In the boys’ lightweights, Samurai fielded two teams.
The Gulliwullies team, with Jamie Preston, Rory Gulliver and Arran Gulliver, were eliminated despite wins over Warrington and Birmingham’s Lordswood.
The Pancakes team, with Ryan Humphries and Jack Nelson, were a player short but made the quarter-finals before losing to Pinewood and finishing fifth.
In the boys’ heavyweights, the Samurai Basilisks team of Brendan Crummy, Andrew Talbot and Sam Woodward beat Warjukwai and the Wirral but were knocked out.
In the girls’ heavyweights, the Samurai W1NN3RZ team of Frankie Marston, Rachel Moon and Emily Woodall saw off Stafford and Wirral before losing to Pinewood.
The Hancocks Plus One, made up of Charis Hancocks, Sally Moon and Millie Hancocks, lost to Pyrford for the bronze after a semi-final defeat against Pinewood ‘A’.
In the senior women, the Kool Katz team featured stalwart Katherine Lloyd Jones alongside Amy Evans and Charlotte Price.
They did well to beat Carmarthen in particular and ended up with a well-earned bronze.
The SNM team of Nicky Haywood, Sarah Biles and Rachel Griffiths looked odds-on for gold but lost 2-1 in the final to the Wirral.
In the senior men, Samurai fielded four teams for the strongest category.
Greg’s Gargoyles, with Greg Adams, Paul Clarke and Craig Wilkes, and the “Triclops” team of Richard Davis, Rob Alloway and Geoff Mills both just missed out on qualification from the pool.
The Team GBB of Grant Jones, Ben Newbury and Brett Evans also missed out.
But the Age Concern team of Ryan Pitcock, Ed Leonardo and Andy Marston proved their ‘A’ tag was justified.
They demolished tough teams from Dowty, Erdington and the Wirral.
Convincing wins in the next two stages against Enfield and Carmarthen put them into the final — a rematch with Erdington.
Marston lost the opener but an-song Leonardo triumphed before Pitcock took the decider to secure gold for Samurai.
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