HARROGATE martial art ace Matthew Price has been crowned British Grand Champion after taking first place in both kata (set form) and kumite (fighting) at the Karate Union of Great Britain's National Championships.

Price, the chief instructor at the Granby High School-based Harrogate Shotokan Karate Club and the Boston Spa-based Leeds Karate Academy, is only the fourth man to take the title of Grand Champion in the 36-year history of the championships.

He then made it a hat-trick of gold medals when he led the Harrogate and Boston Spa 'A' team - comprising Price, Nick Heald, Duncan Randall and Liam O'Grady - to victory in the men's team fighting event, in a successful defence of their title.

The tournament, the most prestigious domestic karate event, was held at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.

More than 400 competitors took part in the men's event making it one of the biggest British Championships ever.

Price, the British and English team captain, said: "To take a national individual title is something I have worked towards for many years. Becoming national champion means the world to me but to become Grand Champion is unbelievable."

Along with his three golds, Price, sponsored by Harrogate's Quest Gates Partnership, was also awarded the Wilkinson Sword for best competitor and the Tony Francis Memorial Rose Bowl for best all-round performance.

Success for the two clubs did not stop there.

Maria Price, an assistant instructor at Harrogate, performed superbly in reaching the final of the ladies kumite event, where she lost narrowly to Zoe Campbell, an experienced international who took world bronze in Prague last year.

The ladies team of Heidi Probst, Maria Price, Gemma Nightingale and Juliet Finlay repeated their efforts of last year by taking third place in team kumite.

The men's 'B' team of Harry Finley, Chris Pullan, Guy Noble and Richard Zealand also did well, beating among others the successful Welsh Bargoed team on the way to a quarter-final defeat to Manchester University, while Duncan Randall, an assistant instructor at Boston Spa, improved on his quarter-final place of last year to reach the semis this time round.

Anyone interested in starting karate can contact Maria Price on 01423 549618.

Updated: 12:04 Monday, May 20, 2002