VII GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE

Guatemala City, Guatemala By R.J. BISHOP

The date was Sept 20, my son and I were in my Blazer cruising down I-95 towards Boston’s Logan Airport, just nine days after the tragic terrorist attacks on the WTC in N.Y. City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and PA. We both were very nervous and apprehensive about flying so soon after this tragic event. Many friends and relatives tried to talk us out of going, but we were not going to allow a madman to alter our plans or our way of life. Well as expected the security had tightened at Logan and that did put us a little at ease.

The flight into Guatemala City went well, and after clearing customs we were met by a lovely young lady by the name Adrianna Morales. Ms.Morales was sent by GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE Promoter JORGE PORRES to escort us to the WESTIN CAMINO REAL HOTEL, Guatemala’s ONLY 5 star hotel. The WESTIN CAMINO REAL CONVENTION CENTER was the site for the tournament. After a good night sleep we went to the Convention Center to check out the facility. Upon arrival we were given the Red Carpet treatment by our gracious host Promoter JORGE PORRES. What a gorgeous facility to hold a World Rated Martial Arts event, 1^st class all the way, and that reflected the Promoter.

The GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE a WORLD RATED TOURNAMENT with both NASKA and KRANE, featured talent from all over the world. Due to the terrorist attacks on the U.S.A., several of NASKA and KRANES top competition teams were not in attendance. Top competitors from such teams as TEAM CERIO, TEAM CHARLIE LEE, TEAM ULTIMATE, TEAM VALERA, TEAM TAO, and the BLACK DRAGONS KARATE TEAM did make the trip. It was nice to see some of our friends from TEAM CHARLIE LEE and TEAM VALERA in attendance, we had a good time hanging around together.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

The tournament started at 4:00 PM with Colored Belt Team Forms, followed by Colored Belt Musical Weapons and Colored Belt Musical Forms. I did see a lot of talented Central American competitors competing in these division, many of them had very good gymnastic routines in their kata.

Up next were the Black Belt Musical/Open Weapons followed by the Black Belt Musical Forms. These divisions featured such top American Stars as NASKA’S Anthony Atkins, Ryan Pinkston, Rudy Reynon, Gemma Nguyen, and KRANE’S Reggie Levesque, Alissa Faiola, and Jared Corbett. They were all the center of attention as they performed their awesome Musical Weapons/kata routines for the large excited group of spectators in the Convention Center Ballroom.

The Under Black Belt Team Challenge eliminations along with the Black Belt Team Forms and Black Belt Team Fighting concluded the Friday night activities.

SATURDAY MORNING/AFTERNOON

The Saturday Eliminations started around 9:00 AM with all the Youth Weapons divisions. I saw a lot of young talented Central American Weapons competitors that morning. It’s a shame that we don’t see more of them at major American tournaments because they are very talented and exciting to watch. Up next came the Youth Forms divisions followed by the Youth Fighting divisions.

The Adult Weapons and Forms divisions started around noon along with JR. GRAND Run-off, followed by the Adult Fighting and the Grand Championship matches. The GRAND CHAMPION Winners:

SYNCHRONIZED TEAM FORMS: TEAM CHARLIE LEE - USA

MEN’S FORMS: ANTHONY ATKINS - USA

MEN’S WEAPONS: ANTHONY ATKINS - USA

YOUTH BOYS FORMS: RUDY REYNON - USA

YOUTH BOYS WEAPONS: RUDY REYNON - USA

YOUTH GIRLS FORMS: GEMMA NGUYEN - USA

YOUTH GIRLS WEAPONS: GEMMA NGUYEN - USA

LT WEIGHT FIGHTING: WALTER VERA - GUA

MID WEIGHT FIGHTING: REYNALDO MIQUELENA - VEN HVY WEIGHT FIGHTING: JUAN P. FORNO - GUA

SENIOR MEN’S FIGHTING: ALEX KACHLER - GUA

LT WEIGHT WOMEN’S FIGHTING: BEATRIZ SANTAMARIA - EL SAL HVY WEIGHT WOMEN’S FIGHTING: JOYCE BLANCO - VEN

SENIOR WOMEN’S FIGHTING: MONICA URRUTIA - GUA

SATURDAY EVENING

After an exciting day of competition it was time to watch the "NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS DEMO AND BLACK BELTS FINALS". This was an entertaining show of the weekends participants displaying their talents for the capacity crowd fans in the Camino Real Convention Center. There were about 30 acts in this show and unfortunately I can’t list them all but I will give you a lowdown on some of the main acts.

TEAM CHARLIE LEE’S Gemma Nguyen started off the show with her Musical double Nunchuku routine. This really set the pace for the rest of the show. Her Musical Kata routine later in the show was excellent too.

GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE Promoter Jorge Porres came on next and asked that ALL of the American Competitors and their families to come on stage to thank them for coming and recognized them for their bravery, despite the recent terrorist attacks on the USA. He asked for a moment of silence to remember the victims and families of the Sept 11^th terrorist attacks in NYC, PA, and DC.

Up next was a KENDO Demonstration by Jose Morales and Fuzo Marsiobetere, followed by a Dance act by the lovely ladies of JAZZ EXERZOLE.

The next five demonstrations were by the member of the BLACK DRAGONS KARATE TEAM of El Salvador. They all performed very well and some of their Under Belt performers were quite good.

KRANE’S Reggie Levesque performed his "Greased Lightning" Musical double Nunchuku kata to the roars of the audience.

TEAM VALERA’S Rudy Reynon really was impressive in the performances of his Musical Open Hand kata, and the Musical Kama routines. He really reminds me of his Instructor Jon Valera, it’s like watching a mini-me version of Jon.

Guatemala’s TEAM SIDEKICK performed a really neat Bo Staff demonstration that was very well organized and entertaining.

TEAM CHARLIE LEE’S Anthony Atkins and Ryan Pinkston, the NASKA SYNCHRONIZED FORMS WORLD CHAMPIONS performed their routine. As usual they were awesome, near perfect, but you would not expect anything less than them.

Jared Corbett, the KRANE WORLD CHAMPION in the Physically Challenged Division, really did a wonderful job with his Musical Bo Kata and got a huge applause from the capacity crowd in the Convention Center.

Several times during the show Mr. Porres stopped the show to recognized the sponsors, VIP’s and the Tournaments Grand Champions. Mr. Porres is truly a Class Act.

As I said earlier, There were so many competitors involved with this show that it would be impossible to write something on all of them, But I would like to recognize as many as possible. Congratulations to Gabrielle Rodriguez, Crista Prahl, Paulo Quan, Rodrico Prahl, Julio Quijano, Christian Gebhardt, Jorge Martinez, Team Venezuela, and the Golden Dragons, for a job well done, and you should be proud of your performances.

In summary, the GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE was a great success, and surely one of the top two or three tournaments I have ever attended. The people were extremely friendly and helpful, the facility was 1^st all the way, and Promoter JORGE PORRES made you feel like a member of his family. I give the GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE my "TWO THUMBS UP" rating. I encourage everyone to try the GREAT MAYAN CHALLENGE, my son and I WILL definitely return someday.