On the weekend of 14th and 15th October we hosted the AETA Open English Championships in Haywards Heath. 460 competitors from 27 clubs from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Cyprus participated in this highly anticipated event.
The first day was for the under 9yrs, 9-11yrs and 12-14yrs who competed in Pattern, Sparring and Special Technique (both flying side kick and flying high kick on the new TPS machines). The first two events were run with our re-qualification system that means if you lose in the winners draw then you drop down to the bronze medal draw still with a chance to get on the podium. This system was very warmly received and gives excellent value for money as well some essential experience
On the Sunday it was the turn of the 15-17yrs, 18-35yrs and 36yrs+ who took part in three events and with the 15-17yrs and 18-35yrs black belts given the opportunity to compete in four events.
For the first time in a very long while the 15-17yrs and 18-35yrs black belts were given the opportunity to compete with the 5 techniques in Power Test and Special Technique. It was especially interesting as it was the first time that females have performed all 5 of these techniques since this was first introduced at the World Championships in Finland back in September.
The overall Team Standings for the top three at the end of the two days were:
1st Cambridge Taekwon-Do 28 Golds 17 Silvers 16 Bronzes
2nd Crowborough TKD 22 Golds 15 Silvers 21 Bronzes
3rd Swift Fox TKD 14 Golds 8 Silvers 9 Bronzes
Congratulations to Cambridge TKD for the outstanding performances.
Thank you to the umpires who worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to deliver and smoothly ran event, thanks also to Master Dunbar who travelled down from Scotland to be the Chair of the Umpires and many thanks to our incredible team who rigged and de-rigged our setup on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night.
Finally thanks to Mr Sam Wood our IT genius who continues to update and improve all of our systems to help us run our events.
WE HAVE ALREADY BOOKED NEXT YEARS EVENT!!!
5th-6th OCTOBER 2024! Get it in your calendar now!