This past weekend (Saturday, June 4th) saw the exciting return of the Western Canadian Karate Championships in Okotoks, Alberta. Over 160 participants representing Alberta, BC, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan competed in both kata and kumite in front of many local and western Canadian spectators, with many athletes in the 7-12 age range. From BC, members of Kimeru Karate, Northwest Shitokai and West Coast Gojukai Karate competed with some strong placings, including Khyber Barnett medalling in several kata events. For full results, please check out the Karate Alberta site at www.karateab.org.
“I’ve been looking forward to the return of this Western Canadian karate competition for many years now, and so to see it come back and so successfully is fantastic”, said Karate BC President, Norma Foster. “We are extremely proud of how our BC athletes performed, and we look forward to taking part again next year”, Foster continued. Norma Foster was also a part of the strong Officials team from BC that went to the event to help out with officiating duties.
As part of the weekend, Yara Tarana (National Referee Committee Chair) held a very successful referee course for close to 20 officials from all the Western provinces.
Stay tuned for details on next year’s event as they become available!
