DARTFORD Judo Club’s junior members attended the classmaster judo competition at Tunbridge Wells on Sunday.

The contest is designed to promote a friendly environment which will encourage those who are relatively inexperienced competitively.

Dartford JC was represented by five juniors who were each placed in a pool of players based on age, grade and weight.

The competition proved popular with 55 pools and attracted competitors from Kent's surrounding counties.

Dartford's first competitor of the day was Max Shorter, who fought in pool 34.

Despite Shorter's nerves, he managed to dominate his first fight and won outright after throwing Daniel Rich for ippon.

Shorter went on to win his second fight after holding his opponent Jack Thompson for ippon.

He then found himself staring up at his next opponent Jerad Sankerah.

Shorter was fighting well when he was dragged to the ground by Sankerah across the neck, causing the Dartford fighter to become distressed.

Sankerah was given a warning for their behaviour and luckily, Shorter was able to continue and found new reserve to suddenly drop underneath his towering opponent and produce a powerful shoulder throw to land Sankerah flat on his back for ippon.

Shorter then made easy work of his final fight, repeating the same shoulder throw and achieving an even louder sound to clinch the first gold of the day.

His performance proved to be the inspiration for Dartford's remaining players.

Ten-year-old Ciaran Ronayne made his competitive debut in pool 40.

Ronayne showed great maturity in his first fight against Lyle Slocombe and managed to gain a small score before eventually succumbing to the more experienced Slocombe.

He then found his form and defeated his next opponent with an ippon throw.

Ronayne was now hungry for wins and managed to win his next two fights with superior scores over his opponents.

A very happy Ronayne took his place on the podium to receive the silver medal.

Thomas Fisher had a tough task in pool 41, giving away more then six kilograms in weight to each opponent.

This was Fisher's third competition, but he was drawn against some seasoned competitors who are members of their county squads.

Fisher worked hard in all his fights but on this occasion, the experience and additional weight advantage of his opponents meant he had to settle for the bronze.

His efforts were recognised by the organisers who awarded him the spirit of judo award.

Lewis Richardson’s was very even, with all the matches being close.

Richardson demonstrated some great technical judo and defeated his first two opponents by ippon.

His third fight went into golden score after two minutes as there was no overall winner.

At the end of golden score, there was still no score, so the referees made a decision which Richardson narrowly lost.

Due to each pool competitor winning two matches, the medals were decided by points.

Richardson had won his two wins by ippon, giving him the best result of the group and handing him a well-deserved gold medal.

Dartford's last competitor to fight was Ciaran Ronayne's older brother, Hayden.

This was also his debut performance and he was keen to match his younger brother’s silver medal.

Ronayne beat Steven Bourne for ippon in his first fight and looked in impressive form.

His next fight was evenly matched with both Ronayne and Kennard Vee achieving small scores.

The fight eventually was given to Vee with a seven point win over Ronayne's five points.

Ronayne remained focussed to come back with force against Mark Skellet, who although much taller, couldn't stop Ronayne's determination as he was thrown for ippon in a beautifully timed counter.

Similar to Richardson's group, no one had won all their fights which left the group open.

Despite Ronayne's earlier defeat, a win in his final contest would put him in contention for gold.

Ronayne closed the day off with a forward attack to lay his opponent Scott Woods flat on his back for ippon and the gold.