Students from Ilkley Karate Club proved once again they had the golden touch at the 2005 SKU National Kumite Championships held at Ponds Forge Sports Centre in Sheffield.

The Ilkley Club run by chief instructor Mark Outterside (5th Dan) and his assistants came away with an amazing five first place, one second place, and five third place trophies.

The standard set was high as in previous years and the rewarding results for Ilkley were on a par with last year's achievements from this tournament.

Ten year old Calum Kerr started the avalanche of awards by taking the first place trophy without a single point being scored on him. Calum lifted the boys senior grade (brown and black belt) under 35KG title. Calum also won the same tournament last year as a junior grade last year.

William Coates, 9, was outstanding in the boys senior grade 8 to 9 years category. William had to settle for third place after cruising through the elimination rounds.

Abigail Craig, 11, made a promising debut in the girls 10 to 11 years junior grade category back taking third place.

It was an all Ilkley final for the second year running in the boys' junior grade 14 to 15 year old category.

Battling it out in the final were Sam Stinton and James Buck. Sam took the title once again by seven points to four after James took an early lead in a close final match.

Still fresh from her success earlier this year Tashina Earle, 12, showed why she is the one to watch as she stormed through the elimination rounds.

Tashina was the smallest girl in the category and still managed to dominate the event beating her opponents 8-0 and 9-1 in the early rounds. Tashina won the category and also retained the title she won last year.

Following on from his European success, England team member Tyrone Abraham, 12, was back in form as he took first place honours in the boys' senior grade over 50kg category.

Ken Corless, 13, also put in a good performance in the boys' senior grade under 45 kg category. Ken had drawn the match six all in the semi-final and narrowly lost a place in the final as the bout was decided by the first to score wins.

The fifth and final title of the day went to Andy Stakes who won the men's junior grade under 70KG kumite (free fighting) event.

Black belt Maria Corless, 15, won a third place trophy in the girls' 14 to 15 brown and black belt event.

To complete the overall tally Ashley Woodhouse, 17, managed another win for Ilkley by taking third place in the U-18 black and brown belt category.

Club Instructor Mark Outterside said: "The results were very pleasing and it just goes to show how strong the Ilkley club is on a national level. The club success so far this year is amazing and the students' achievements just seem to get better and better."