MORE than 400 competitors descended on Penrith Leisure Centre to compete in a children’s karate championship on Sunday.

The 15th Annual Children’s Open Karate Championships was organised by Cumbria’s karate master and 9th Dan, Sensei Doug James, who is the founder and president of the British Karate-Do Chojinkai Association (BKC), a style commonly identified as Chojinkai Karate.

Doug, 75, has been running his style within Carlisle ever since 1974 and since opening up dojos throughout Cumbria, he has produced more than 250 Dan graduates since, of which many were his own students.

Sunday's event saw 300 spectators and karate students from more than 30 clubs within the UK compete, with the ages ranging from six to 17 year olds.

There were more than 70 categories on the day covering everything from sparring, Kata forms and Kickmaster.

Carlisle, Brampton & Wigton Chojinkai Clubs run by 5th Dan, Mark Heaton, did particularly well in bringing home the glory to North Cumbria – winning a total of 14 medals, three silver and eleven bronze.

“Full credit should go to the club head instructor, Mark Heaton 5th Dan, for preparing the members against top English an Scottish opponents, for what is a major event on the UK karate competition calendar,” Doug said.

Sensei Mark, who has been training for 23 years, said: “The kids put a lot of practice in for it, obviously going up against the best competitors in the UK and they all did very well in all the different types of events.”

The Carlisle, Brampton, Wigton Chojinkai Karate Club, will be running an inter-club competition in April and will be gearing towards a grading for students to get to their next belt later this month.

Anyone interested in joining the Carlisle, Brampton, Wigton Chojinkai Karate Club, can find them on facebook or contact Mark Heaton on 07732 352359.