Worcester Sauce

Not a massive turn out from Ciren this time, and although Ryan was there he wasn't able to fight. Not because he was injured from his previous tournament, but because the stupid little monkey fell up some stairs and smashed his face up on a door. What a plonker - but nice pic!

Debs fought her socks off and finally managed to beat Courtney Bateman (who to be fair has kicked her ass all year), and then took a very respectable Second place.

Stevie kicked butt too, but to be honest I lost track of how he got on because he was in a million categories again.

Tim's first fight didn't go to plan, and after the scores were level all the way through, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, then on the final clash as the whistle blew, his opponent just scored first making the final score 7-8 not in Tim's favour! Nevermind, can't win 'em all.

Next time we'll take a massive strong posse and tear the hall to pieces! Well done Debs though for keeping us on the scoreboard in the meantime!

Blood, Sweat & Tears

These lucky devils endured a grading on 19 August and all staggered out of the hall at the end like they'd just jumped down of a horse.

Results will be released in 2 weeks... Don't ask us until then, or you can wait an extra week!!!

But well done all for at least staggering out, and not being carried!

WUMA European Champs 2009

Well done to Debs and James who braved this massive tournament and both managed to place in the top three!

Ryan picked up his usual amount of first place trophies in the fighting, as well as making his mark on the weapons category.

Tim's legs were on fire which secured him a first place Euro title by scoring with multiple head kicks throughout the semi-contact. Ran out of puff in the Light Continuous though and settled for a third place and a headache!

Well done gang!

Venue: Worcester
Weather: Hot
Result: Kicked Butt

The first time that a big posse of Ciren KB fighters have ventured out to a tournament this year!

Ryan & Stevie achieved their usual success in the kids sections, will George gave the fighting a bash, and then grappled his was to a second trophy. Will then choked his opponent out for first place in the grappling.

Debs kicked butt for the ladies and took silver to a very experienced and respected female fighter.

James & Tim also kicked butt for the men taking a first, second and a thrid place between them in different categories.

Good work people!

The year started well for the Saxton brothers, both receiving awards at the prestigious Hall of Fame ceremony held at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Both were presented with a Lifetime Achievement award and Terry also received his 5th Dan Blackbelt, making him an official Master! (although he still hasn't mastered looking at the right camera)

The last training session of the year always has a reputation for some festive fun and 'alternative' training - this year was time for the kickboxing pyramid!

Still not sure how James managed to support the entire weight of the pyramid without being squashed - good effort!

Good end to another fantastic year. Role on 2009!

New Black design Tshirts are now available - with printed 'Ciren' front logo, and HKD back print.

Come and train to see what they look like!

£15 in Small, Medium and Large.

Fit for any good superhero.

(Purchase only. Excluded from 'new member kit offer'.)

On 30 March the sun was shining for the annual Relay Marathon in Cirencester Park. For Tim's 3rd year at this event, he roped in the help of Chris and Mark to run in the 10 man team raising money for the Cobalt Crack Cancer campaign. The hundreds of pounds raised by Chris, Mark and Tim is added to the rest of the team's pot, and should total in excess of £1,000.

Their team time placed them second overall - from 20 teams! Thanks to everyone that sponsored them!

Everybody passed this time!

"Well done!"

In a big effort to introduce some of the students into the tournament arena, a massive posse from Ciren turned up to the WUMA HQ in Cheltenham - and basically overshadowed any other club!

Some excellent fights in every category - kids, ladies, men - semi contact, light continuous and even grappling. Well done everyone!

Full report and photo will follow in the local Standard newspaper shortly.

In this years WUMA European Championships, held in Worcester, Ryan fought some of the hardest fights of his young career ... and still managed to bring home the goods!

Well done Ryan, for gaining a second and a third place trophy in the continuous category and the points section.

(The mean and moody look is probably because he twisted his ankle afterwards playing with his mates!)

Will & Ed, Ryan & Steve

Half way through the year, and Will & Ed decided to test their skills in a WUMA tournament after returning to training after several years off... and hey presto, already they're racking up the trophies! Well done lads.

Not to be outdone, Ryan & Steve ventured to a non-WUMA tournament for a little variety, and guess what... yep, more trophies for the ever-growing collections! Good work boys.

Little and Large

Amazing success for both Tim and Ryan who came home crowned as World Champions after battling in the 2 day event of the WUMA World Championships, held on the island of Malta.

Click here for a few of the photo's, or hit the pic below to view a funky video of the events highlights....

Ryan and Steve Strike Again!

There's absolutely no stopping these two at the moment, with Steve picking up 2 third place trophies at the English Cup tournament in September, and Ryan taking 3 first place cups which combined were probably bigger and heavier than he is!

Well done lads, roll on Malta...

(Rumour has it that Ryan has moved up in the celebrity lists and will be turning on the Swindon Xmas lights this year!?)

Another successful tournament for quite a few of the club in August - adults and kids!

Well done Matt for winning several trophies at his first ever tournament - many more to come I hope!

Click the picture to view the full report as featured in the Wilts & Glos Standard newspaper.

The smallest fighter of the club strutted his stuff at this National tournament, and showed that he's one of the top kids fighters of the moment.

Not just one trophy - but TWO first place trophies...

Well done Ryan!

He's also in the WUMA British Squad and will be competing in the World Championships this November in Malta - good luck little ninja!

On the same weekend as a 'mini heat wave' was announced, Instructor Tim had to endure his 3rd Dan Blackbelt grading.

5 hours of syllabus and training drills on Saturday and again on Sunday, closely followed by the torturous 3 hour blackbelt grading Sunday evening. Designed to physically 'break you', it's a true test of will power, stamina and endurance of the mind. With temperatures up to 35 degrees in the Cheltenham sports hall, as usual some collasped, some were sick, but some also survived... Tim stayed strong throughout and his unbreakable will power was rewarded with a third stripe on his Blackbelt!

Click on the photo above for a really corny but quite funky video clip of Tim in the final hour.

It was big turnout of students taking their grades in June, from beginners to purple belts. Results were dished out on in July but not everybody was there to receive their results - including Tim who still couldn't walk from his own Blackbelt grading! (see above)

Well done to everybody (even the ones not in the photo!!!)

On 7 May Cirencester Park played host to the annual Cobalt Appeal Relay Marathon, part of the 'Crack Cancer Campaign'.

As part of Tim's training regime for his forthcoming 3rd Dan grading, he ran as part of a 10-man team. Despite his hatred for running, he managed to complete his 2.6 miles in 20 minutes - is that good or bad? Let's not say, just in case his head gets any bigger...

As well as the money raised by the team as a whole, students from Cirencester Kickboxing also contributed a significant amount of sponsorship in support of Tim's effort - so thank you very much to everyone that dipped into their pockets!

The final 'snear' of the year for Chris here, showing his latest batch of 'babies'.

Chris ended the year superbly by taking his first win in the Strike & Grapple category, and another 3rd in the Continuous at the British Championships in December. Congratulations sunshine!

Tim missed a few tournaments late in the year, which ultimately meant his first place ranking in the 2005 league slipped to 2nd place right at the end. But then he finished the year with a 3rd place at the European Championships, so hey, not bad at all!

Our big guy, WUMA Founder "Deadly Dicker" appeared on the cover and had yet another major interview with Britain's No. 1 Martial Arts Magazine in November, Martial Arts Illustrated.

Another good batch of 'old skool' photos featuring the most famous and respected martial artists of the last 3 decades, all of which he has battled with, worked with, even lived with, together with his views on the modern day circuit...

... and a little name-check for yours truly too...

Cheers Deadly!

During the WUMA weekend syllabus course, Terry was presented with his 4th Dan Blackbelt certificate from the big guy - WUMA Founder & Chief Instructor Richard "Deadly" Hopkins.

So many give up even before their 1st Black, but here's proof that dedication and committment will pay off... it just takes years!

Consistent as ever, Chris took home 3 trophies from this year's National Championships held in Worcester.

First place in the Light Continuous, second in the Strike & Grapple, and thrid in the semi-contact points.

Not bad work after a night out celebrating fellow student, Adele Batstone's 21st birthday. Unfortunately Tim was struggling with his hangover and although he turned up to support Chris, he couldn't stomach competing! Oops.

Well done Chris, and Happy Birthday Adele!

Seeing as Chris and Linda seem to be winning everything in sight at the moment, I couldn't resist putting this freaky photo in instead of the real one.

Nothing like 10 minutes on Photoshop to bring us all back down to earth eh?

But seriously, well done Chris and Linda again for bringing home a selection of trophies each from the Gloucester tournament.

The Fantastic Four! Regulars Tim and Chris were joined by Adele and Linda at this months event, and they certainly showed off a little bit of girl power, each bringing home a trophy. This was Linda's first rumble in the ring so well done especially to her for gaining third place.

Chris did the usual, consistent as ever, and brought home 2 trophys from the semi-contact and the light-continuous. Instructor Tim Saxton secured another first place win, putting him joint first in the current English ratings. Well done all!

The English Summer Championships were held on a suitably sunny Sunday in July this year. Tim travelled the short journey to Worcester to represent Cirencester WUMA Kickboxing.

This was one of the busiest events of the year so far, and so Tim had little time to miss his absent team-mates and got straight to work in the light-heavyweight category.  After several tough battles, Tim secured himself yet another first place trophy – and a well deserved afternoon lounging in the sun to get his breath back.

Full report featured in The Standard (11 August 2005 edition).

White: Jamie McGillick, Damon Gill. Yellow: Sally Newton, Danny Barker-Close. Orange: Ruby McGillick. Green: Ryan Underhill, Helen Blanch, Yvonne Gordon-Walker, Adele Batstone, Sarah Oakley, Sam Wilkins, Meena Kumari. Blue: Andy Smith. Purple: Linda Waldron, Dean Ford.