Kick Boxing: York club celebrates medal bonanza

From the Evening Press, first published Thursday 16th Sep 1999.

A York kick-boxing club is celebrating a heavy medal haul at the European Martial Arts British Championships.

Four fighters from the Aegis Kick-boxing Club picked up gold while a further two savoured silver at the Sheffield event.

Craig Long took gold in the under-70 kilogram category while younger brother Mark also took first place in the under-75kg competition.

It is 17-year-old Mark's second national title after taking the World Kick-boxing Association's version of the British crown earlier this year.

Other Aegis fighters to taste gold were Jon Lloyd, in the under-80kg, and Hadrian Branston, in the under-85kg.

Completing the rout was Paul Pepper, who took silver after being beaten by Branston, and Well Lo, who was beaten to the gold by Mark Long.

Paul Lynch, chief coach at the club, in Fifth Avenue, said it was a fantastic achievement for the club.

"It just shows that all our hard training is coming good.

"We have done well at a lot of local competitions in the past and cleaned them out but this was a big step up and hopefully we will get some success abroad next year."

Lynch, the current world champion, did not take part in the competition as he is currently preparing to take on the Spanish national champion at the end of next month.

He then heads to Italy where he will defend his world crown. He will be joined by Pepper, who has also been selected for the Great Britain team.

The Aegis Club offers free sessions every Monday night, from 6pm to 7pm, for youngsters looking to try out the sport and would welcome new members, aged five years and upwards.

For more details, telephone Lynch on 0831 303093.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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