London Olympian Sally Conway was crowned British champion for the seventh time as she was one of 14 judokas to climb the top step of the podium at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Conway was one of several Olympians to pick up gold at the 2013 British Championships, the Scot sweeping the board with a succession of ippons.
And fresh from winning bronze at the Jeju Grand Prix, Conway was delighted to rack up her seventh -70kg British title.
“It feels good to end the year with another British Championship title, especially since it comes off the back of Korea.”
Fellow Olympians Colin Oates (-66kg) and Ashley McKenzie (-60kg) also scored ippon after ippon to win the British title of their respective weight groups.
Oates, who reclaimed his title, said: “It was tough as I faced some really good players. In particular the final fight against Nathon Burns was not easy. He is such a hard worker and always pushes me.”
European bronze medallist McKenzie started with a hat-trick of throws, one-by-one beating Daniel Powell, Iwan Davies and Jordan Knight.
McKenzie said: “I’m very pleased to end the year with a British Championship title. My route to gold involved ippons all the way, including the final fight too.”
Fellow Olympian Gemma Howell became the -63kg British champion for 2013.
Royal Marine Chris Sherrington, also an Olympic veteran, fought his way back to become +100kg British Champion after an injury-plagued year.
But it wasn’t just veterans to claim gongs as aspiring Olympian Nekoda Davis won her very first British Championship title in the -57kg category.
“This is the first time I have won the British Championships and it feels good to get the job done,” said Davis.
“It’s good to know that I am mentally and physically fit enough to prevail and when the tough gets going, I’ll never be the first to crack.”
Meanwhile, Hayley Willis did the double to become both junior and senior British champion of 2013 in the -48kg category. She scored a fantastic win against Kimberley Renicks in the final pool and Kelly Edwards was also crowned -52kg British champion.
Welsh judoka Natalie Powell put in solid performances to earn her title of -78kg British champion, while Owen Livesey took the -81kg British Champion title.
The winner of the -90kg title was David Groom and Pinewood’s Benjamin Fletcher became -100kg British senior champion.
© Sportsbeat 2013