Open British Championships 2000

Several members of the Sil Lum Kune Kung Fu squad went to the British Championships in Cheltenham on 3rd Dec 2000. The squad included members from the Coventry, Bedworth and Nuneaton clubs.

Junior members performed first with 11year old Nathan Hill from Bedworth taking 2nd place in the under 155cm Light Continuous category. In the junior team section  the club achieved 3rd place against much taller and older opposition. The team was made up of 11 year old Nathan Hill from Bedworth, 11 year old Glen McGlinchey from Coventry, and 13 year old Tom Pritchards from Nuneaton. All the lads performed well, and their coach Sifu Paul Burkinshaw expects great things in the future from all three.

Nathan Hill, Charles Reynolds and Tom Pritchards - 3rd Place Junior Teams

Next on was Paul Burkinshaw ( Chief instructor, and team coach of Sil Lum Kune.) in the Chinese forms section. Paul was awarded 1st place after performing a traditional form from the Praying Mantis style. Paul then performed in the under 80kgs Points sparring section with fellow club member Martin Scott. This was Paul’s come back after a near fatal car accident in March 2000. Paul was amazed with his performance, to achieve 1st place, with fellow member Martin Scott taking 3rd place.

18 year old Aaron Marsh then fought in the under 75kgs Points sparring section and after a dazzling display of speed, style, and amazing kicks took 1st place without question.

Martin Scott who in November achieved 2 World titles in Full Contact, and Light Continuous fought in the under 80kgs Light Continuous section. Martin was on fine form, and in the final was knocked back to 2nd Place by what can only be called a questionable  decision on the judges part.

In the men’s Team event Paul, Aaron, and Martin pulled off another 1st place to add to the day’s haul.

The final event off the day was the Overall Grand Championships for the winners of the English, Scottish, and Welsh series to compete against each other. The results for the Sil Lum Kune club were :-

Ladies Continuous ( +60kgs )                                    Grand Champion                  Ceri Marsh
Chinese Forms ( Adult )                                              Grand Champion                  Sifu Paul Burkinshaw
Chinese Forms ( Junior )                                            Grand Champion                  Nathan Hill
Advanced under 75kgs ( Stop-start sparring )          Grand Champion                  Aaron Marsh
Advanced under 80kgs (Stop-start sparring)            Grand Champion                  Martin Scott
Advanced under 80kgs (Continuous sparring)         Grand Champion                  Martin Scott

Sil Lum Kune has local clubs in Coventry, Bedworth, Nuneaton, and Meriden, with several more new clubs planned in other surrounding areas this year. Sil Lum Kune is also a member of the Shaolin Fist Chinese Boxing Association. This is a multi style association that includes Karate clubs, Kickboxing etc as well as Kung Fu. If any person or club is interested in joining this expanding association or requires details about local classes then please phone Paul on 07973  421860.