COWDENBEATH Karate Club has been in action in Europe and in England over the last few weeks with some outstanding performances from their young exponents.

First up was the Ishoj Championships, in Denmark, held over three days with over 850 entries from across Europe in one of the continent's top events.

Day one saw Melissa a Maxwell fighting in the U21 year-olds black belt section were she won the gold medal after some impressive bouts.

She then fought in the senior ladies black belt event at -61kg to again win gold winning the final 8-0 under the spotlights of a packed hall .

Melissa then fought in a Scottish ladies team as captain were again she won her fights and another gold medal.

Her last event was for the Super Champion gong, an open weight event for all winners, were she lost 1-0 to a much heavier opponent but it was a great day for Melissa, who was totally exhausted after fighting many rounds and all day on the mat.

Cowdenbeath's only other fighter was 11 year-old Elize Bauld who fought in day two of the event and she reached the final after defeating many young Danish fighters, to set up an intriguing contest in the evening against another Scottish fighter.

Despite trailing 1-0 for most of the hard fight she stepped up a gear and won the final 9-2 in the end, and another gold for the Cowdenbeath girls and club,

The club then travelled the following week down to Penrith for their open championships.

Young Cole Webster continued his fine form of late and won gold in his event and bronze in the team. Olly Smith then won silver with one of his best performances of the year showing great kicking ability in every match.

Mia Aitken again won gold in her event and is showing great promise and drive. Robyn Ironside won bronze in her tough section, with Emma Duncan narrowly missing out on the medals eventually losing to a top Scottish internationalist but Emma can be proud of her performance .

ELize Bauld continued her fine winning streak of late winning both her sections and two gold medals with her usual all out attacking style to round off the tournament for the club .

Coaches were Grant Robertson and Gordon Maxwell, and both can see a marked improvement across the whole club with many other new young fighters starting to make their top squads.

Club coach Ben Smith thanked everyone who travelled to see the team and for the great efforts of all he commented: "Great results and performances from all, especially the two girls travelling to the high intensity event in Denmark which was a very well run and top level tournament.

"The girls are dedicated to their sport and hopefully can keep improving in their chosen combat sport.

"The club also has new crop of fighters about to start their journey, with events in Edinburgh and Linlithgow coming up in the next few weeks . "Then it is the 10K challenge in London, in April, the richest cash prize in karate where Allan Goodwin and Melissa Maxwell have won through to fight.

"Melissa became the youngest and first Scottish winner of this event last year so a huge challenge for her to try and retain the cup. The event is a fantastic show with pay per view available to a UK audience so we wish both fighters the best of luck ".

The club trains in their own top gym in Broad Street, at the former Cowdenbeath Miners Institute, and are currently taking a fresh intake of members. Details of times etc are available on their Facebook Page for Cowdenbeath Martial Arts Centre .