Three gold medals for Dungannon club Ren-Bu-Kan at Leinster Junior Open
Ren-Bu-Kan Judo Club, Dungannon, enjoyed an impressive medal haul at the Leinster Junior Open in Dublin, returning home with three gold, two silver and four bronze medals
REN-BU-KAN Judo Club, Dungannon, had a very successful day at the Leinster Junior Open in Dublin winning three gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
This was a real test for the Dungannon club with nearly 300 youngsters, aged six to 14, from all over Ireland competing for the medals.
Gold medallists were Riley Dixon, Fíanna McGilloway and Kaitlyn Kavanagh and the two silver medal winners were Riley Dixon (who competed in two age groups) and Cian Grimley.
Worthy winners of the bronze medals were Scarlett Mackle, Eugene McElvogue, Cuan McGilloway and Brogan McGilloway.
It was worth noting that senior Ren-Bu-Kan Black belt Brian McGilloway had four of his children taking part and three of them won medals: one gold (Fíanna) and two bronze ( Cuan and Brogan) and one fifth place (Keenan).
Other Black Belts from the club also had children competing. Daniel Grimley’s two sons Cian (silver medal) and Josh who had a fifth place finish, Kris Kavanagh had three of his children competing, with Kaitlyn winning gold, as Jody and Conor both finished in fifth place in their groups. Richard Dixon’s son Riley competed in two age categories and ended up with a gold and a silver.
Also competing were Caedan Madden, Jack Loughlin, James Scarlett, Dáithí Coney, and Daniel Smulski, who all fought well but were out of the medals this time.
The next major competition for the children will be the All Ireland in December where Fíanna McGilloway and Kaitlyn Kavanagh will be defending the titles that they have won for the past two years.