ACT Open Results - 13-14 Feb 2010

With Ashley de Bruine withdrawing injured, Michael Stubley withdrawing ill, and Nathan getting a last-minute medical clearance to compete, we ended up with 19 of the club's finest competing in 22 divisions. This event is the first of the biggies for 2010 with National Senior Team points up for grabs as well as selection points for Cadets and Junior and Senior Men / Women for Oceania Championships. As usual the club's supporting machine was in fine form with Kerrye, Dale and Rob providing strong coaching support and of course our unique and highly identifiable spectator presence. The Novotel was a hit for about 10 families complete with indoor pool, spa, gym and sauna and made a nice change to the Sundowner, especially with the awful weather in Canberra.

There were the usual dramas with making weight, and the new age categories made for some interesting observations with 15 and 16 year olds getting used to applying and defending against strangles, and also with 15 year olds playing junior men and women and getting used to arm-locks. The referees were somewhat inconsistent with the new leg grabbing rules but generally very tough leaving little room for discretion (and sometimes reality), a bit of a shame given this was the first big event where these rules were applied. The video replay was used a lot and slowed up progress. Refereeing is a hard job indeed and we need to encourage judokas retired from or not interested in competition, to become referees. Overall the competition ran like clockwork with congratulations to Judo ACT for another job well done. Our athletes put on a great show and did the club proud yet again with 4 x 1st places, 5 x 2nds and 8 x 3rds. Last year, albeit with one less age category available, the 17 athletes we had competing in the ACT Open won 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 4 Bronze medals, so we continue to improve our participation and depth of results. There is potential for as many as 6 of the club's athletes to represent Australia at international events this year…but there is still the QLD Open and the Nationals to go!

Saturday was a long day with trial weigh-ins for 14s at 8.00am and the last of the medals awarded at about 6.30pm. Sunday, with only the seniors and weigh-ins the night before, was somewhat faster with the last of the medals presented at about 3.00pm. The venue is cosy to say the least for a competition of that size and ACT may need to look at alternatives next year. There is also talk of weigh-ins Friday night so that the competition can get underway earlier in future. Special thanks to Marcel and Ashley de Bruine, Don and Hamish McDougall, and Josh Katz for manning the video, to Simmy and Danny for coming along on Sunday to support the seniors, and to the great group of Budokan families who continue to show a positive spirit in all circumstances and for looking after the coaches so that we can concentrate on the club's athletes. Finally, congratulations to our athletes for displaying great spirit and skill, and for taking up the challenge of climbing up one more rung on the ladder of experience and competition prowess.