The seventh-annual Trinity-Horizon Inter-Club Taekwon-Do (TKD) competition took place on March 12 and was the biggest one yet.
The event, which is joint-hosted by Cochrane-based Trinity TKD and Airdrie-based Horizon TKD drew 111 competitors of all levels from the two clubs, with 61 coming from Trinity (both the Cochrane and Water Valley dojangs).
“It’s something we look forward to doing every year,” said Trinity instructor and co-organizer Cameron Macdonald. “We started doing it as an intro tournament to give people a chance to see what competition looks like without going to major, overwhelming events like provincials.”
54 of Trinity’s participants walked away with medals. Christian Blazina received gold in both patterns and sparring, as did Nicholas Hooper, and Hannah Rocliffe.
Max Cinnamon, Jason Fydirchuk, Emily King, Drake Orr, Ashlee Rocliffe, Ty Stafford, Bret Stafford, and Arik Wold all claimed gold in patterns. Van Hill, Jacob Mate, Claire Murphy, Andrea Raab, and Jessie Topolnisky nabbed golds in sparring.
“It’s essentially a learning tournament which is good for someone who is experiencing an event like this for the first time,” Macdonald said.
“I don’t want to say big tournaments aren’t friendly, but they’re geared towards competition. We give out medals here, but it’s all about coaching and helping people. The black belt referees are more apt to giving back than you see at other events.”
Are there any plans for future expansion of the tournament?
“No, we intentionally keep it small,” Macdonald revealed.
“We decided seven years ago we’d combine our two in-house tournaments and keep it that way. We don’t want to get any bigger, unless our clubs expand, then it might grow, otherwise we’re not opening up to other clubs.”
