Grangemouth judo club gets a gold at British championships

Lucy Hunter (18) has only been a member of Grangemouth’s Deanburn Judo Club for a short time, but you would not have guessed it if you watched her competing to become the British champion in her category at the British Judo Council (BJC) national championships in Kettering on Sunday.

And Lucy was just one of the club’s success stories as it took home eight medals from the event, with Ruiraidh Porteous just missing out on gold himself and taking silver in his category.

Coach Jayne Clason, a Commonwealth Games and GB judo star, is the only other member of Deanburn to have captured gold at the championships, but she was out of action this year, still recovering from a broken foot.

She said: "We went there just going down there to do our best and compete and would have been happy with a couple of medals. We ended up getting eight and now have eight members who have been given letters to go and train with the national team.”

Jayne said she was proud of Lucy, Ruiraudh and all 15 of the Deanburn team who travelled down south to compete, but she singled out Kyle Wilkie (16), who was fighting in the seniort category for the first time and found himself up against a British champion in his first match.

"He just started fighting like a man,” said Jayne. “He never won a match, but he fought hard.”

The trip to Kettering was made possible through a year of fund raising by club members and parents of members which saw them coin in enough cash to send a whopping 15 members to the championships.

Deanburn members stepped out onto the streets of Edinburgh for the famous Kiltwalk earlier in the year to raise well over £1000 and this, combined with a number of other events during 2022, made the trip south a reality.

Jayne thanked everyone who had donated funding and raised cash for the cause and thanked Braes Travel for taking them there and back over the course of the weekend.

Deanburn holds classes for youngsters on Monday nights and adults on Friday nights in the Community Education Unit, in Abbots Road, Grangemouth.

They plan to return to the BJC championships in 2023.

Here is the full list of the 2022 heroes:

- Primary Female 8-9 years for U32kg, Bethany Cantwell (Bronze)

- Junior Female 13-15 years for U52kg, Aimee Stewart (Bronze), U100kg, Olivia Hill (Bronze)

- Senior Female for U70kg, Lucy Hunter (Gold), Samantha Russell (Bronze)- Junior Male 10-12 years for U30kg, Murray Nicolson (8th), Elliot Wilkie (7th), U38kg, Mason Stewart (7th), U42kg, Aaron Wilson (Bronze), U46kg, Charlie Trimble (5th), U55kg Adam Cantwell (5th), Logan Marshall (Bronze)- Junior Male 13-15 years for U55kg, Ben Wilson (8th), U66kg, Ruiraidh Porteous (Silver)

- Senior Male for U60kg, Kyle Wilkie (5th)

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