A selection of Red Star competitors recently attended the ITF Ireland Cup hosted by our friends in the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association. The tournament was held in Waterford to coincide with their 40th anniversary of original Taekwon-Do in the county when it was brought there by SM Phelan VIII and Master Liam Dandy VII.
The tournament was professionally ran and as always the umpiring was top class. Our competitors did themselves very proud with both Lauren Bradshaw and upcoming stars Eliza Bluma and Dayna Walsh all securing gold medals in sparring. Both Lauren and Eliza won gold in tul (patterns) also. 1st dan Lauren Russell also took gold in the junior special technique category bringing our gold medal tally to six. The successful day was topped off when Lauren Bradshaw was awarded best over all junior competitor.
Taking silver medals on the day were Caoife Walsh who is starting to shine through in her sparring, Luke McCarney also took silver in sparring losing out to a very classy fighter from Blanchardstown. Also in the medals was Donna Mackey who took two bronze medals. Donna was on her way to the final of the senior 1st and 2nd dan patterns when a slight technical mistake put her into 3rd position. Still a great performance from the Castleknock instructor.
Unlucky on the day was Laura Flynn who had a great performance in tul but was pipped at the post by Lauren Bradshaw and Lee Gorman who at 8th kup enjoyed his first big Taekwon-Do tournament.
