COUNTY NEWS: Judo club team metres from terror attack in Spain

Members of a Sussex judo club were staying just 100 metres from where terror struck in Spain on Friday.
Kin Ryu Judo Club members were just 100 metres from where terror struckKin Ryu Judo Club members were just 100 metres from where terror struck
Kin Ryu Judo Club members were just 100 metres from where terror struck

Five men, wearing fake suicide vests, were shot dead by police after a car mowed pedestrians down in Cambrils, in the early hours of Friday morning (August 18).

It came as a second atrocity and terror attack for Spain after 13 people were killed and 80 injured after a van ploughed into pedestrians in Las Ramblas, Barcelona on Thursday afternoon (August 17).

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Kin Ryu Judo Club, who train at K2 Crawley, were taking part in a tough five-day training camp with coaching from some of Europe’s top coaches, including former GB 2012 Olympian Winston Gordon and former World and European Champion Craig Fallon.

Kin Ryu Judo Club athletes with coaches Lisa Harrison (right) and Clare BowieKin Ryu Judo Club athletes with coaches Lisa Harrison (right) and Clare Bowie
Kin Ryu Judo Club athletes with coaches Lisa Harrison (right) and Clare Bowie

Coach Lisa Harrison, 36, an occupational therapist, of Southwater Close, Ifield, Crawley, said: “The camp went well and would have been like any other had it not been for the events in the early hours of Friday morning, when the quiet town of Cambrils was shaken by a terrorist attack.

“We were staying only about 100 metres from the marina where the shooting took place and had been eating dinner opposite the scene about an hour earlier.

“Fortunately the athletes had been training hard all day and were tired as a result, so all eight of us headed back off the beach and to our

apartments shortly before 11pm.

The scene in Cambrils after the terror attackThe scene in Cambrils after the terror attack
The scene in Cambrils after the terror attack
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“There were armed police out on the streets and we assumed this was due to heightened security following the attack in Barcelona the previous day.

“As we were getting ready for bed we heard some screaming outside and a strange noise at the end of the road.

“As the town was quite lively we thought it was people still enjoying their evening. The first we knew was the following morning when I received a text from the camp organisers checking we were all OK and what the plans were for the day.

“We heard that some of the judo coaches had been caught up in the attack and Winston had been injured.”

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Lisa said she and coach Claire Bowie, 46, who was also on the trip, brought the athletes together to tell them what had happened but they were ‘determined to continue camp’.

“We were impressed to see that Winston was back on the mat the following morning despite the nights events and that pushed the athletes on even more,” she said.

“It was frightening to think what could have happened but had we stopped training and come home then that was giving in and we were determined not to do that.”

Lisa added that the team were due to go to Las Ramblas in Barcelona yesterday (August 20), but decided it was not a good idea following the attacks.

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