Bath Judokwai travelled with eight players and four coaches to Bath’s twin
city of Alkmaar, Holland to compete in the 16th Alkmaar International Judo
tournament. 62 teams and 630 competing judoka’s from nine different countries,
including national squads from Sweden and Norway, entered the competition.

Bath’s Rebecca Pierce, 17, who is graded as at Orange belt level, had a pool
consisting of national squad members from Sweden. She fought her way to the
final before loosing to the Swedish Number one player and collecting the
second prize trophy.

Lee Aldrich fought through 3 rounds of hard fights after moving up a weight
group than he normally competes in before being beaten in a tough contest by
the eventual winner. He finished fifth overall, which was encouraging for him
entering the British Nationals this weekend to try and gain selection in the
Great Britain Cadet Squad.

The other players who finished outside the medals were Avril Gay, Jason
Carter, Stephanie Jones, Christopher Witt, Daisy Lacey and Katy Griffin who
was unlucky to be drawn in her first fight against the Dutch number one player
and European champion.

All of the player enjoyed their visit and gained valuable high level
competition experience.

Next Easter Bath Judokwai have invited their Dutch host to visit Bath to
explore the city and to train and compete with the Bath players. This
invitation is the first the Alkmaar Judo Club of Randers De Geus have been
able to accept from their Bath counterparts and will be one of many exchanges
between the people of Bath and Alkmaar in 2005 to mark the 60th year of
twinning events .