EDMONTON - Nunavut's judoka have won medals at southern tournaments in the past, but never this many.

Colin Pugh-Doucet of Iqaluit shows off the first competition gold medal he has earned, after winning at the Edmonton International Judo Championships on April 3. - photo courtesy of Penny Dominix-Nadeau

The Nunavut Judo Association took a group of 19 judoka, all from Iqaluit, to the Edmonton International Judo Championships at West Edmonton Mall from April 1 to 3, and when all was said and done, the team brought home a total of 13 medals, four of them gold.

Louis Nutarariaq was a gold medal winner, as was Colin Pugh-Doucet, who captured his very first gold medal in his first competition. Paul Baril and Warren Keim also won gold medals in the U-11 category.

There were also medal wins for Markus Weber and Marie-Claude Grenier, who each won a silver medal and seven more bronze medals, including wins for Sadie Pinksen, Joseph Melanson and Bianca Weber.

Jo-Anne Falkiner served as coach for the team in Edmonton and said this was the largest contingent from Nunavut ever sent to any one tournament.

"We got to the point where we felt lots of kids would be in contention and we're really pleased with what we saw," she said. "It's amazing to get 13 winners, but we had two more finish fourth and a couple more who won some matches in some really tough divisions."

Winning so many medals would be a surprise to most and indeed Falkiner said she was surprised, but she had no doubt the kids would conduct themselves accordingly.

"We have a very dedicated bunch of kids who train with us and they're all working hard," she said. "They've put in lots of effort and it's great to see everything finally pay off. We had to build up the competition kids and they all began as five or six-year-olds. We reached our critical mass this year and the results are starting to show."

With so many medals won, that fear of peaking too quickly comes into play, but Falkiner said she's not worried about that.

"We have a good bunch of kids here and we don't focus on winning," she said. "We want the kids to reach personal bests and if it helps them win a medal, great. If not, then we hope the personal best helps them to fight a little longer in one of their matches."

For Melanson, it was worth the wait as this was his first medal after five years of practising judo.

He said it was a big relief and he was also happy with how the rest of the team performed.

"We did very good compared to other places," he said.

With Edmonton now out of the way, the focus now turns to the Canadian Junior National Championships this coming May.

Falkiner said Nutarariaq will definitely be on the team and while the final decision hasn't been made yet, there are some names which have been thrown around.

"We're looking at Levi Enuaraq-Strauss, Pay Juralak and even Joseph (Melanson)," she said.

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