IT was a hat-trick of silver medals as Wyre Forest Taekwondo started their winter season in the North Midlands Championship.

Hosted by the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain (TAGB), the popular regional competition also saw the club pick up a bronze medal.

After a summer of more relaxed training, the last few weeks have been a big push for the competitors as they prepared themselves to once again step into the ring.

Mother and daughter duo Helen and Jessica Giles were disappointed to miss out on competitions in the first half of the year after Jessica sustained a prolonged injury to her ankle.

But both ladies were excited to finally be back in competition and they stormed through the rounds to both take silver medals in their sparring events.

Helen was also able to secure a bronze medal in an additional sparring event, making it three medals for two very proud Giles’.

It was third time lucky for Wyre Forest’s seasoned junior competitor Charlie Collyer. Competing for the first time in the Blue belt division, after having had a successful belt grading over the summer, Charlie’s skills were pushed to the limit against some very talented young men.

Despite his age, height and experience disadvantage, Charlie held his own very well and was very close to medalling in both his pattern and individual sparring events.

He finally secured himself a silver medal when he joined forces with friends from other clubs to enter the tag team sparring event.

Following the event, instructor Katie Billingham said: “I’m really proud of the competition squad. They got the season off to a great start.”

This weekend sees the squad travel to Glasgow for the Scottish Championships.