Otley Karate Centre's very own team of dragon slayers competed at the SSKA National Kata Championships.

The squad comprising of Aoife Dobson, aged seven, Eliza Smithson, aged nine, Meg Flowerdew, aged ten and Hannah Baker in the adults category, had an early start to travel to Warrington where the championships were taking place.

In a field of 200 competitors from around the country all four came back with medals - a fantastic result for the team representing Otley Karate Centre.

Aoife and Eliza both won silver medals and missed out on taking gold by the narrowest of margins.

Meg and Hannah collected bronze medals in their respective categories.

However, there were commiserations too for one adult member of the team, Yolanda Kerlen, who was disappointed to miss the tournament due to contracting the Covid 19 virus two days before the competition.

The coach of the kata squad, Natalie Hofman said: "I am incredibly proud of the teams performance, especially as it was their very first tournament and for everyone to get a medal against such a large field of competitors is brilliant."

The club's chief instuctor John Walker added: "The squad, which trains just once a month, was only set up six months ago so they all deserve huge congratulations for their hard work, effort and determination in achieving this outstanding result."

For further information about karate classes at the Otley Karate Centre e-mail: otleykaratecentre@outlook.com or call 07870 432707 for details of their four-week Introduction to Karate beginners courses.