Air Force judokas rule at Tindal

By Andrew Stackpool

FLGOFF Marcus Bailey is thrown by FSGT Jamie Auld, President of Judo Federation of NT, at RAAF Base Tindal.

Photos by SGT Mark Eaton

From left: SQNLDR Allan Cooper, FLGOFF Marcus Bailey, Kelly Fong, ranked No. 1 in Australia, and FSGT Jamie Auld, President Judo Federation, Northern Territory, during the titles held at Tindal.

AIR Force is tops in judo in the Top End. Flying Officer Mark Bailey from RAAF Base Tindal beat all comers to take the gold at the recent Northern Territory Judo championships.

Three judo clubs from Darwin and a club from Jabiru traveled more than 350km to join the Katherine club at the action-packed competition, which was held at Tindal from October 8 to 9.

Flying Officer Bailey and two other Air Force members participated with the Katherine club.

Sharlene Sadler, from Tindal, who was the official timer for the competition, said participants required at least an orange belt to compete in the championships.

“It is a club competition, but it also gave individuals the opportunity to fight for acceptance in the nationals, to be [held] in 2006,” she said.

“The competition was well attended and we now have our Judokas (Judo members) who will represent the NT in Perth in the national competition next June.”

Ms Sadler said the standard of competition was high and commended the organisers for an excellent event.
“More seniors attended it, which is always exciting to watch.

“The competitors train for one-and-a-half hours, at least twice a week. The highest score you can achieve from judo is an ‘ippon’. All five clubs had a high percentage of these and this was higher than last year.

“Flight Sergeant Jamie Auld [from RAAF Base Tindal] is a fantastic coach. He is also President of the Judo Federation of the Northern Territory and works hard in raising the benchmark to where judo should be today.

He and Max King, the head coach at Katherine, have worked tirelessly in getting the NT to become a force to be reckoned with.

“Holding these tournaments is never easy, but the organisers and officials did a great job and I would like to thank the Katherine club for putting together a great tournament.”

Ms Sadler said that judo was an approved Defence sport and that it was gaining popularity within Defence.
She said that the competition has been contested on Defence establishments in the past.

“We used Tindal last year and it has also been held at [RAAF Base] Darwin in the past.

“Tindal is fantastic. The venue is air-conditioned, the building is big enough to accommodate the spectators and it is just a great place to hold a competition of this size.

“I would like to thank the base for once again letting us use their facilities.”

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