OVER 200 competitors from all over Britain entered the first major national judo tournament at St. Helens and Kendal Judo Club came away as top club with four medals at the end of a hard-fought day.

Top spot for Kendal went to Steve Rogan, who won all his contests with the full point (ippon).

His first fight was against a London player, who he disposed of with a minor outer reaping throw (koo soto gari).

In his next fight Steve pinned Johnathan Spencer from the Midlands with a scarf hold (kesa gatame). He then went on to beat a Scottish squad player with a shoulder throw (morote seoi Nage).

Another hold down for 25 seconds in the semi-final against a player from Kent put him into the final against Colin Francis, who has been training full time at the Sports Council's Bisham Abbey college.

Steve threw him for ippon in the third minute of the contest with an unusual 'knee wheel' (hiza guruma) throw to get the gold medal.

Michelle Raven had national squad players to contend with in her four fights up to the final. Michelle started in fine form with two full-point throws in her first two contests against Bethany Clegg from the South and Julie Morgan from London.

A submission from a strangle against Michelle Berry (North West) saw her into the semi-final where she held Claire Woods with a chest hold (mune gatame) for the full point (ippon).

Sadly, in the final Michelle was caught with a lucky throw, but nonetheless it was an excellent silver medal.

Danny Harper also ended up with a silver medal. Having beaten Danny Wright (North West) and Philip Grant (Midlands) with two terrific throws, he then had the misfortune to meet up with club-mate John Asplin in the semi-final.

It was John who lost in a tough battle when Danny threw him.

In the final Danny was thrown by Jan Goiewski from a North-East club. However a gold, two silver and a bronze medal was a very good day's work by the four players.