Spring usually accentuates the colour green, but gold and bronze were more the style of the Northwest Tae Kwon Do team.
Under the guidance of instructor Ken Anderson, the Fort Frances martial arts club raked in 10 medals during the Can-Am Games in Winnipeg on April 26.
The 14-member squad took part in both the forms competition as well as full contact fighting.
In forms, Corey Fehr won gold in the red belt black stripe category while green belt competitor Carissa Wilson took the bronze. Sam Copenace (belt unknown) performed well despite not medalling.
Fehr returned to also capture gold in the black stripe division of full contact fighting, to go along with his sister, Hailey’s, gold medal in the red stripe class.
Thomas Edwards rounded out the trio of champions—taking gold in the red stripe men’s division despite a serious age and experience disadvantage in comparison to his opponents.
Mike Sandru made his second foray into black belt competition a productive one as he took the bronze, losing only to the same opponent who had beaten him in a meet last November in Winnipeg.
Other local bronze-medallists included Josh DeGagne (red stripe), Jessica Bekesi (yellow belt), Jade Allan (yellow belt), and Devon Brown (yellow stripe).
Other club members Nelson Bragg (yellow belt), Kelly Brown (green stripe), Jamie Wreggitt (yellow stripe), and Mike Sobkowicz (blue stripe) were held out of the top three, but still contributed strong efforts to the team’s cause.
The team’s next competition won’t be until November.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
