Competitors strike gold in regional meet

Something __ year-old Jackson Gillon bounced off the judo practice mat with a wide smile and urged his sensei to get the tapes rolling–video tapes of their winning weekend in Kenora.
The Lake of the Woods Invitational Judo Tournament was held at the Beaver Brae Secondary School on April 28-29 and the members of the Fort Frances Judo Club handed in a strong performance with their tournament debut.
Among the successful medal hauls were the brother-sister duo of Jared and Tamara Catholique-Bruyere, who each captured gold medals–Jared in the 75 kg juvenile class and Tamara in the 55 kg girl’s class. Jared also took home the Outstanding Juvenile Trophy.
The boy’s 40 kg final featured a gold medal showdown between two club partners Cale Hayes and Cody Carmody. Hayes upended Carmody in a close contest.
Club co-coach Chuck McDonald took home the silver medal in the black belt’s senior 73 kg class while Paul Dobransky won a silver and a bronze in the boy’s and juvenile’s 45 kg classes.
Roughly 300 fighters participated at the event, making it one of the region’s biggest tournaments, said co-coach Les Wiersema. There were combatants from Minnesota, Winnipeg, Marathon, Dryden and Thunder Bay.
Fifteen from Fort Frances made the trek from their humble dojo to a packed Beaver Brae Secondary School gymnasium. But despite the change in surroundings, Wiersema was pleased with how well his students performed.
“They don’t know going into it exactly what they’re up against,” he said. “For the amount of participants that were there, we did very, very well.”
The trip was the pinnacle of the club’s busy first year. From renovating and planning to opening its doors last September, the club now boasts 35 students from ages 16 to 40. McDonald and Kim Kovic assist Wiersema with the day-to-day operations of the group, which practice every Monday and Thursday.
Wiersema said the club may experience a summer lull as the younger students are on vacation and no major tournaments are scheduled. But he adds general training will be provided to children who are available throughout the break.