Wolfpack recently returned from the huge kickboxing event, the Irish Open, held at the Citywest Convention Centre in Dublin, Ireland. The Irish Open is an impressive competition – close to 4,000 registrations every year. The sections are large, filled with the highest level of competition. There is a reason why being an Irish Open champion is a big deal; the standard of competitors is high and everyone knows.
The fighting began on the Friday with all the light contact sections.
The continuous fighters did very well, and a huge congratulations to Natasha Baldwin, one of the instructors here at Wolfpack Martial Arts. She continues to show that with enough determination, perseverance and motivation you really can achieve anything. Natasha made the decision to make the -60kg section, as well as her usual -65kg section, with she has not attempted to make in over five years. As usual, Natasha pushed on, training hard with a perfect diet, no matter what the circumstance and was able to reap the rewards when she furthermore not only won her -65kg section but also her -60kg section! Double Irish Open champion, and this was most likely made all the sweeter as her one year old daughter was able to watch from the sidelines – all we can say is, what a role model.
Friday evening saw in the points fighting team events – our own Adam Lough was asked by his friends from the Legend Summer Camp which he attends every summer in Greece, to jump in with them. Adam fought very well with the Greeks, and they ultimately came away with the gold. Congratulations to everyone involved!
The individual adults and juniors points fighting divisions ran on Saturday, followed by the grand champion event and cadets point fighting sections on the Sunday. The rest of our team competed on these two days where we had great performances all round, and we added to our medal collection.
Our end result was three gold, five silver, and eight bronze from a squad of fifteen fighters. Great work everyone, with lots to work on before next year comes around!
