Judo is riding high in the Douglas Shire and the Mossman-based Coral Coast Judo Club is basking in the glory of their 22-medal haul at the recent NQ Championships.

And to add to their successes, they have been recognised as the second top club in the state.

The club’s secretary/treasurer Rob McIntosh said they were really happy to be announced as the second largest judo club in Queensland, and is now gunning for the top spot.

“Our club was number one in Queensland by numbers five years ago. We are slowly rebuilding out of Covid and have reached number two in Queensland and are about 25 behind the number one club based in Brisbane,” he said. 

McIntosh said the club members did an incredible job at the regional championships with competitors from various clubs in Townsville, Innisfail, Malanda, Mossman and Cairns.

“There were 86 competitors on the day. We took a team of 14 with 12 medalling for a total of 22 medals,” he said.

“The North Queensland Championships are one of six regional competitions held in NQ each year.

“Covid has cut short this year's competition calendar, but we have competed in Cairns, Innisfail (2) and Mackay which are the points-based competitions aimed at selecting our State Team to go to the National Championships on the Gold Coast next June.  

“State titles are to be held in Cairns next year in April and all going well, a high number of our judoka should make the state team,” said McIntosh.

Coral Coast Judo Club, which trains at the Victor Crees Pavilion at the Mossman Showgrounds, has 78 members and is now considered the largest judo club in North Queensland.

The medallists were:

Gold:
Nikita McDonald - senior girls
Alex McDonald - junior boys and senior boys
Nanami Anderson - senior girls
Lily Schmidt - junior girls
Gwyneth Dowells - cadet women

Silver:
Max Schmidt - Junior boys and senior boys
Alex McDonald - senior boys
Gwyneth Dowell - junior women
Oscar Dowell - junior boys
Price Duncan - senior boys
Nanami Anderson - senior girls
Julie Anderson - junior girls and senior girls
Jake Lyle - senior men

Bronze:
Hunta Langley - cadet men and snr men
Nikita McDonald - cadet women
Max Schmidt - snr boys
Oscar Dowells - jnr boys
Kayla Trezise - snr girls

Jnr boys/girls division is 9-11yrs
Snr boys/girls is 12-14yrs
Cadets are 15-17yrs
Jnr/snr men/women 18-20yrs
Snr men women - 21yrs and up