NORTH YORKSHIRE’S FIJ Sportif judo club has been celebrating more national success after a hugely successful weekend at the British Schools Championships.

The club, which is based in Richmond, Catterick and Northallerton, was only established in 2012, but in the last eight years, it has established itself as one of the most upwardly-mobile in the country.

FIJ Sportif took a team of seven judokas, representing primary and secondary schools from across North Yorkshire, to the British finals at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport, and came away with a remarkable haul of two gold medals, a silver and a bronze.

“It was absolutely brilliant,” said FIJ Sportif founder and head coach Glynn Fidgeon. “We only had a small team of seven, but they all did fantastically.

“What makes all this success all the more special is that the team have only been doing judo for three years, and quite a few of them only decided to take up the sport when I went into their school and ran a tasting session for them to try it out.

“For them to progress from that to being national champions in the space of two or three years is incredible really.”

Lucy Robinson, representing Northallerton School and Sixth Form College, was FIJ Sportif’s first gold-medal winner, triumphing in the Under-63kg weight category.

Beating off competition from more than 20 rivals, Lucy was on top form throughout, winning all of her bouts en route to the final by a maximum score ippon, effectively judo’s equivalent of a boxing knock-out.

The final was a much closer contest, but Lucy’s strength and determination saw her through and enabled her to add the British Schools title to the BJC National Championships crown she has already claimed.

“It was great to see Lucy get another title,” said Glynn. “She trains hard in the dojo and the gym in Richmond, and her work with the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Mike Layfield, has really paid off.”

Lucy’s younger sister, Georgia, fought on the following day, representing Appleton Wiske Primary School, and made her competitive debut in a new weight class of Under-48kg.

Georgia, who is also a BJC National champion, lost out to the eventual winner in the group stages, but fought superbly in her remaining bouts to claim a bronze medal.

She was joined in the same weight division by Jessica Mepham, who was representing Rossett School in Harrogate, another BJC national champion. Jessica made it one step further than Georgia, qualifying for the final, and she came away with the silver.

The championships came to a close with the Under-63kg category in the year six and seven age group, and Joanna Witowski, representing St Leonard’s Primary School, became FIJ’s second gold-medal winner.

Like Lucy, who she trains alongside, she won all of her contests with maximum scores.