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Rachel’s path on becoming a world champion began in 1997 when she took
up martial arts training just as a way of keeping fit. It didn’t however
take long for Rachel to catch the competition bug. Within just four
years she had achieved her black belt in Karate and was well on her way
in becoming a Gold Medallist. “I just really enjoyed the sparring and
competition side of things and it all went from there.”
 Rachel’s
first Major success came in 2001 at the European Championships in
Edinburgh where she won a silver medal in traditional Kumite. Having
just missed out on gold, Rachel was more determined than ever to perfect
her techniques and try header. All the hard work paid off in 2004 at the
WKO World Championship in Venice. Rachel took gold for the +65kg
traditional fighting category. The winning didn’t stop there when in
2005 Rachel not only won Gold at the Birmingham international. It was
while competing at the first Traditional Karate Association World
Championships being held in Italy that Rachel won Gold in both
Traditional and sport Karate, and won Bronze in the individual and team
Kata events, and recently in 2007 took team gold at the WTKA World
champion ships in Italy. “It
has been with the assistance and financial support of Sport Worcester a
council base organisation that has helped to achieved what I have today”
Rachel seen here on the
right during the WTKA World Championships in Italy
 In
Rachel’s quest in becoming a World Champion she has seen many parts of
the world “I mainly just see the inside of the sport centres but this is
definitely one of the main highlights to international competition.”
Rachel is now currently training for the European Championship in
Belgium, plus numerous other international tournaments during the next
five months. ‘In a typical week i train two/three times plus some fit
kit training in between. Karate is an excellent way to learn skill and
keep fit all at the same time.’ Rachel fights for
The English
Wado-ryu Sports Karate Association,
the club was founded in 1980 by Clayton Murrain and is one of the
largest Karate organisations in Great Britain. With many clubs
throughout England and Wales this is an ideal starting point for anyone
wanting to take up the Martial Art. Rachel’s Aims for the future is to
carry on winning as many Gold medals and World Championships as possible
and would one day like to see Karate as an Olympic sport.
Rachel (right) during
an international competition in HungaryHHN
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