IT was heartache at the European Championships for Aaron Swales.

Cruising 3-0 up in his 2nd round bout against Russia with 30 seconds to go, his opponent somehow drew level and took the lead with seconds to spare.

The Russian went out 5-3 winner on the bell, leaving Aaron to the anxious wait to see if he made the reperchage in the U-84kg event.

But sadly it wasn’t to be, with the russian getting beat by his Swiss opponent in the next round.

It was hugely disappointing for Aaron – but he put up a great performance in Tenerife.

It was also disappointment for Ishinryu’s Emma Lucraft who lost in the quarter final and failed to make the reperchage when her opponent lost out in the semi-final match.

But there was more success for sensei Jonathan Mottram, who breezed through the early rounds – only to come up against world kata supremo Luca Valdesi in his semi-final.

He went out 5 flags to 0 – but will now battle it out for the bronze in the reperchage final on Sunday.

It was a huge effort from all our Ishinryu athletes. Well done. Ishin.

More to follow from the championships later.

EAST DURHAM’S Aaron Swales met up with the England squad today to fly out to Tenerife for the European Karate Championships.

Aaron completed pre-training on Friday and travelled to London yesterday to meet up with the squad.

He also joins Ishinryu’s sensei Jonathan Mottram and Emma Lucraft who will compete in kata.

The squad flies out today and there will be a couple more days of training, before Aaron steps up for his U-84kg category on Thursday.

Good luck to Aaron and all the squad. Do us proud.

 We will keep you updated on their progress.

East Durhma’s Liam Conroy celebrated his 18th birthday with a couple of special guests.

9 times world champion Wayne Otto OBE and Ishinryu’s sensei Lee Smith 5th Dan made the journey to make Liam’s night very special indeed.

Also there were senseis  Gavin Foster and Steve Baxter, Ishinryu’s Michael Day and fresh from pre-training for the European Championships, Aaron Swales also dropped by.

It was a fantastic night for Liam as the picture shows.

Now back to training!

Aaron Swales’ European championship charge has begun!

Pre-training for the Tenerife championships starts today – but Aaron joined other squad members for some early training at the weekend.

The championships start on May 10 – but there is some tough work to get through before then.

Aaron will be making regular posts on our Facebook page throughout training and from the event to keep all our members up to date.

Good luck Aaron – Click here for Facebook or Twitter @swalesaaron for updates.

East Durham’s Liam Conroy took a well-earned bronze at EKF English Karate Championships.

Liam looked strong as he easily came through the early rounds in the U-68kg 16-17yrs category, before he came up against his fellow international Alfie Ambrose.

It was a close match – but Liam lost out – leaving him to fight it out again for 3rd place.

And he did just that, claiming the bronze. It was a good performance. Liam turns senior next month – so even more hard work to come!

It wasn’t Aaron Swales’ day! Sitting comfortable with one second to to go in his quarter-final fight, he went to sleep and got caught with a head kick – putting him out of the medals in the U-84kg category.

It wasn’t the best result heading into the European championships – but Aaron will have to pick himself up.

It was a great weekend for Ishinryu overall, which saw us claim 7 golds, five silver and five bronze medals.

Special mention to Barking Abbey’s Melissa Williamson who took three golds and a bronze.

Fantastic results from what was a small squad this time around. Ishin!!!!!

East Durham’s Aaron Swales and Liam Conroy will go for glory this weekend at the EKF English Championships.

Aaron will compete in the men’s U-84kg and open weight event, while Liam hopes for honours in the 16-17yrs U-68kg and open weight categories.

It will be a great warm up for Aaron who will head to spain in a couple of weeks to represent England at European Karate Championships.

We wish them and all our Ishinryu athletes competing the very best of luck. Do us proud and bring back the medals.

EASTER HOLIDAY TRAINING TIMES

Tuesday, April 3 – NO CLASS

Thursday, April 5 – NO CLASS

Tuesday, April 9 – Normal times (Sports centre)

Thursday, April 12 – Normal times (sports centre)

Well done to everyone who passed the March club grading.

Everyone did amazingly well, the spirit was excellent in true Ishinryu fashion.

Keep up the good work. Next grading on June 19.

WHAT a fantastic day!

The Sensei Lee Smith course was an huge success.

Some 56 students packed into the dojo at Sedgefield for three hours of quality instruction and students and parents left raving about the event and wondering when the next one will be.

Sensei Smith 5^th Dan took the whole course through some basics in the first session before we split into groups and worked on techniques and bunkai – with sensei Smith, sensei Tony Spinks, sense Gavin Foster and sensei Steve Baxter taking the instruction.

After a half-way break – the second session concentrating on kumite – with reaction exercises thrown in, before we finished off with everyone sparring.

Everyone had a fantastic time and learned a lot and it was also great to see a couple of faces from other clubs.

A huge thank you to sensei’s Lee and Tony for making the journey from Essex and we hope to make it an annual event. Ishin!

Well done to everyone who passed their grading afterwards.

Don’t miss sensei’s lates blog.

Click  here to read more