Yorkton Martial Arts Training Center sent Gracynn Gurniak-Hudy and Colton LaBelle to the WOMAA Open World Martial Arts Championships In Dublin, Ireland on August 9-1 to compete for Team Canada.
Tournament days were long, starting at 9 a.m. and lasting until 10 p.m. on each of the three days filled with competition and cheering on the rest of their team.
Gurniak-Hudy competed in five events. She earned three silver medals in her point sparring, musical forms and continuous sparring events.
LaBelle, meanwhile, competed in two events. He took silver in continuous sparring and won the gold in his point sparring division.
LaBelle and Gurniak-Hudy would like to thank the numerous sponsors in the bottle drives, steak night, raffle draw, garage sales, and generous donations that helped get them to Ireland as well as their friends, family and coaches for the tremendous support, encouragement and extra training on the path to success.
The experience of the world tournament and touring Ireland afterward will be one that they won't soon forget. In addition, meeting new martial arts friends from Canada and around the world is driving them to continue their journey towards black belt, more local tournaments and hopefully another world championship trip in the future.
