B.C.C.M.A Junior British Championships

Junior members from one of the area’s leading martial arts clubs won an impressive haul of medals at the British Junior Championships in Maidstone at the weekend.

Thirty seven members from the Sil Lum kune club, based in Bedworth, took part in the event for under seventeen’s, organised by the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts. The impressive collection of medals the team came away with consisted of twenty gold, twenty five silver and thirteen bronze medals.

Held annually, the British Championships attracts clubs from all over the UK, competing to a very high standard over several different events including light contact sparring and a variety of specialist routines or ‘forms’ and weapons.

Commenting on the youngster’s success, club founder and head coach Paul Burkinshaw said “The kids have done amazingly well this year. We took a big team down with us and it was a long day for everyone but they were very enthusiastic. All of them showed great determination and performed very well.”

Highlights of the day included Bodie Miles and Callum Burkinshaw who took five gold, four silver and two bronze medals between them in the Under Nine Years category, Cameron Burkinshaw taking one gold and four silver in the Under Twelve’s and Karlee Maskell and Charlotte Burkinshaw heading up the girls category with six gold medals between them.

Karlee brought home gold in the Under Twelve Years sparring plus a further two gold medals in the forms category. Fourteen year old Charlotte proved her abilities once again by winning gold for her sparring and a further two gold, two silver and one bronze in the forms categories.

Full results:

Sparring (Under 9 yrs boys): Oliver Ingram (5 years) Silver; Marlee Warwick (5) Gold; David Kemp (6) Bronze; Joakim Follett (6) Bronze; Shakeem McKie (7) Gold; Ryan Kimberley-Skuc (8) Silver; Callum Burkinshaw (8) Gold; Jordan Thompson (8) Silver; Sonnie Dosanjh (8) Gold; Bodie Miles (8) Gold; (Under 9 yrs girls) Hiedi Cotton (6) Gold; Charlotte Timerick (7) Silver; Megan Townsend (8) Bronze.

Sparring (under 12 years boys): George Graham (9) Silver; James Rooke (9) Gold; Matthew Powell (9) Silver; Thomas Chandler (9) Gold; Kyle Gladders (10) Silver; Cameron Burkinshaw (10) Silver; Ewan Thay (10) Bronze; Sam Forsyth (11) Bronze; Benjhi Dosanjh (11) Bronze; (Under 12 years girls): Tina Christy (9) Silver; Karlee Maskell (10) Gold; Shaleen Brown (10) Bronze; Grace Harrison (10) Gold; Colleen Barrow (11) Silver.

Sparring (under 15 years boys): Aaron Tarling (13) Silver; Jack Forsyth (13) Silver. (Under 15 years girls): Charlotte Powell (13) Bronze; Charlotte Burkinshaw (14) Gold.

Sparring (Under 18 years boys): Kian Shakouri (15) Gold; Reo McKie (16) Silver; Joshua Kambo (17) Silver.

Chinese Open-hand forms & Weapons: (Boys) Callum Burkinshaw, Silver, Silver, Gold, Bronze; Jordan Thompson, Silver; Bodie Miles, Gold, Bronze, Gold, Silver, Silver. Kyle Gladders, Silver; Cameron Burkinshaw, Silver, Silver, Silver, Gold; Aaron Tarling, Bronze. (Girls) Megan Townsend, Bronze; Karlee Maskell, Gold, Gold; Charlotte Burkinshaw; Gold, Silver, Gold, Bronze, Silver.

The club, which boasts its own purpose built academy and headquarters in George Street Bedworth, but also has venues around the Midlands area and has members of all ages and abilities.

Written by Nigel Thompson