London Youth Games 2005   It was the hottest day of the year so far and the London Youth Games held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre saw some of the hottest competition representing the London Boroughs in this years tournament. In the sweltering Summer heat, the competition was held on Sunday 19th June 2005 and all the competitors representing the Havering Borough squad were trying to go one better than last year where both the boys and girls teams came second overall. Both teams consisted of the maximum 10 competitors and both teams had two competitors in the Kata events.   Representing Havering in the Girls Yrs 6, 7 & 8 Kata event was Jodie Miles. Jodie opened up her account with a 3 flags to 0 win with her Seienchin Kata. Jodie then followed this up in round 2 with another 3-0 win with her Bassai-Dai Kata. The semi-final saw Jodie perform Seipai Kata and win with yet another 3-0 win seeing her through to the finals. The finals were not held straight away for this event, all the Kata finals were held together after the conclusion of all the Kata repechage rounds.   Representing Havering in the Girls Yrs 9, 10 & 11 was Laura Welch. With an opening Kata of Kanku-Dai Laura took a 3 flags to 0 victory. Laura then followed this up with another 3-0 win following her Nijushiho Kata. Now in the semi-finals Laura booked her finals place with yet another 3-0 win for her Jion Kata.   In the Boys yrs 6, 7 & 8 yrs representing Havering was Alex Sell. Alex opened his account with a 2 flags to 1 win following his Seienchin Kata. The 2nd round saw Alex perform Bassai-Dai and take a 3-0 win. Round 3 and another 3-0 for Alex with his Annan Kata. The 4th round (semi-final) saw Alex book place in the finals too when his Nipaipo Kata took all the flags once again.   Daniel Clarke was the last of the Kata representatives for Havering in the Boys yrs 9, 10 & 11 event. Daniel secured a 1st round win taking a 2 flags to 1 decision with his Enpi Kata. In the 2nd round Daniel took another 2 flags to 1 win but the next round saw Daniel finally beaten as he lost out 3 flags to 0. Daniel did manage to claim a Bronze though through repechage to give the Havering squad valuable points.   The Kata finals were finally held with Jodie Miles up first. Jodie performed Nipaipo Kata and took the judges decision 4 flags to 1 to secure Gold. Well done Jodie. Up next was Alex Sell who performed Chatanyara Kushanku against his opponent. Alex lost by the narrowest of margins 3 flags to 2 but gained Silver for the team. Unlucky Alex. Finally for Havering was Laura Welch in the final. Laura performed Enpi Kata but unfortunately lost out 4 flags to 1 but like Alex gained Silver for the team. Unlucky too Laura. So with 1 gold, 2 silvers and a bronze form the Kata things were looking good for the Havering squad.   The Kumite events were soon to get underway and in the Girls U35KG event representing Havering was Lucy  Peppercorn. Lucy won her opening round match 3-0 but then lost her next round match 6-2. Lucy did loose to one of the finalist and so she made the repechage rounds. Lucy won her repechage event with a 4 points to 1 score to secure a Bronze. In the Girls U40KG event representing Havering was Emma Lucraft and she won her opening round match with a 4 points to 2 win. Her next round saw her take a 2-0 win which put her into the final. Following the repechage rounds, Emma took no prisoners in the final as she stormed through to secure a 5-0 victory and Gold. Excellent job Emma. Jodie Miles was next in the Girls U45KG event and like Emma before her, Jodie opened her account with a 4 points to 2 win. Jodie won her next round match 7-6 in a much closer affair. But Jodie lost out in the 3rd round as she was disqualified following a few too many contact warnings. Jode did make repechage though and secured Bronze with a comprehensive 7-0 victory.   The Boys U45KG event saw Robert Clarke lead the line for Havering as the first of Havering's boys Kumite competitors got underway. Robert received a 1st round bye but got down to business in round 2 as he stormed through to take an 8-0 win. Round 3, the semi-finals, saw Robert secure another win with a 4-1 victory. Now safely through to the final, Robert made no mistakes in securing the Gold as he took the U45KG title with another 4-1 victory. Great stuff Robert. The Boys U50KG category had two of Havering's saquad competing together, George Gambleton and Alex Sell. George made an impressive start as he opened up with an 8 points to 0 win in the 1st round. Alex received a 1st round bye. The 2nd round saw George loose out as he lost 6-0 unable to cleanly land a technique on his opponent. Alex on-the-other-hand came through the 2nd round with a 4-0 victory. Alex came unstuck in the 3rd round as he narrowly lost out 3-2 after dropping a point in the dying seconds. However, Alex made repechage and came though his 1st round with a convincing 5-0 win. Alex's next competitor pulled out leaving Alex to collect the Bronze medal for the team.   The Girls U55KG saw two more Havering competitors in the same event, as Lauren McCarthy and Sophie Roberts both competing in the same half of the draw unfortunately. Sophie started in style as opened up with a 8 points to 0 win in the 1st round. Lauren actually topped that with an impressive 10 pints to 0 win in her opening round. With both girls looking good worse case scenario next, both girls against each other in round 2. With the narrowest of margins, Lauren went through with a 3-2 win. Lauren just scrapped through the next round as the scores remained 1-1 even after extra time. It finally went to the judges decision and all voted for Lauren. Lauren then lost out in the 4th round losing 4-2 to the finalist and so she made repechage. Lauren had two round of repechage to secure Bronze and she made the 1st round with a 8-1 victory but bronze eluded her on this occasion as she lost her remaining match.   The Boys U55KG event saw another two Havering competitors together, Daryl Tyndall and Mitchell Keil. Daryl was unlucky in his opening round as he lost out 3-0 after the judges scored a jodan kick against him in the last seconds of extra time even though his opponent fell during the delivery. But luck was obviously beginning to desert the Havering squad as Mitchell limp off the mat within 30 seconds of his opening round match with a suspected broken toe. Mitchell duly departed for hospital leaving Havering counting the costs of some valuable dropped points from the last few events.   In the Girls U65KG event Emma Grafer was Havering's representative. Emma lost her opening round match 6-0 and unfortunately failed to make the repechage rounds as her winning opponent eventually lost out later on. Francessca Gambleton was Havering's next representative in the Girls U65KG event. Francessca won her opening round in style with a comprehensive 9 points to 1 win. Unfortunately Francessca had to pull out of the next round match as he sustained an injury to her back. The Boys U65KG event saw David Mann representing Havering. David lost his opening round match 5-1 to the eventual finalist leaving him in the repechage draw. David won his first repechage match but lost out in the bronze medal fight-off leaving him 5th overall.   The final Girls representative for Havering was Leigh Reed. Leigh won her opening round with a comprehensive 6-0 win and followed this up with an even more devastating 9-0 victory. Leigh unfortunately lost her next round match 3-1 but came back through repechage to claim another squad Bronze.   Representing Havering in the Boys U70KG event was JJ Burridge. JJ became a first round casualty as he lost out 5-0 in the opening round to the eventual finallist. This left JJ in the repechage draw. In the 1st repechage round JJ found his form storming into an early 6-0 lead. But JJ tried to settle the match with a chudan kick for the 2 points and caught his opponent in the ribs. With his opponent unable to continue any further, JJ was duly disqualified whist seemingly on course for a bronze. Our final Havering representative of the day was Billy Charmers. Billy won his 1st round match 2-0 but unfortunately lost the 2nd round 4-1. Billy did make repechage and win the repechage 1st round 4-1. The bronze medal match saw Billy suffer a narrow defeat losing 3-1 finishing 5th place overall.   And so it ended with the final few medal presentations of the day and then everyone being told to leave as the hall was shutting at 6:00pm. And the overall borough winners...? At the time of leaving nobody knew except that both the boys and girls teams for Havering had been in front for the majority of the day but the boys lead was a slender lead of only a couple of points. As Havering dropped a few vital points towards the end it looks like the title will be a close call.   Well done to all who competed for Havering and thanks to the many reserves who turned out in case they were needed and stayed throughout the day supporting the squad; Jade Lewis, David Wales, Alex Middleton, Dean Bannister and Claire Page.