Difficult driving conditions and the cold spell prevented many registered competitors from joining last Saturday’s major Tae Kwon Do meet at the Wm. E. Hay High School gym, but organizers were still happy with the way the event progressed throughout the day.
“Some 40 competitors came from out of town,” said Dave Hargreaves of Dual Dragons Tae Kwon Do School, who led the organizational effort.
There were a total of just over 130 competitors.
“There were great results for our local competitors,” said Hargreaves.
Local black belt Cade Bengert, a world silver medalist, won the lightweight continuous sparring division for black belts.
Saskatoon black belt competitor David Kopperud won black belt point sparring division, power breaking and extreme breaking.
Katrina Staple of Wetaskiwin took gold in the black belt women’s sparring and women’s forms.
Jack Marchuk of Red Deer took gold in musical forms and Nick Marchuk of Red Deer took gold in first dan forms.
Brian Jewett of Red Deer took gold in black belt – heavyweight continuous sparring category.
“In all there were 62 divisions and competitors ranged from five years to over 50 years of age, from beginners to third dan black belts.“ said Hargreaves, .
Many volunteers helped the organization and conduct of the event.
“High school was an excellent location for the event,” said Hargreaves.