HEREFORD Combat Academy completed the unthinkable by winning gold at the English Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships.

Held over two days and with well in excess of 1,000 competitors it is one of the biggest, most prestigious and toughest competitions in the U.K.

Over 40 students from made the 400-mile round trip to East London for the competition and were rewarded with an impressive 18 individual golds, five silver and three bronze medals.

Although an individual event, for every gold medal won, the team is awarded 9-points, silver 3-points and 1-point for bronze.

These points are used to decide who wins the team trophies at the end of the competition.

The event has been running for 15 years, and every year the individual team trophy has been won by the host club, Carlson Gracie London.

In addition to the host team there are many other huge Jiu Jitsu teams based in and around the capital, including the Roger Gracie Academy, Checkmat and Gracie Barra.

These teams regularly dominate the team trophy placings not only in the U.K. but also at international events.

For a small team from Hereford to even get on the team podium at an event like this is a huge accomplishment.

For them to take first place, is pretty much unthinkable, to finish top of the team table, beating the hosts, Carlson Gracie London, by just 6-points, and with Roger Gracie Academy in third place.

Individual gold medal winners: Joe Fraser, Fraser Hackley, Callum Skelly, Matt Mower, Wayne Lewis, Merv Harries, Nathaniel Lewis, Rosie Gamble, Rufus Spiller, Razvan Catilina, Chris Konieczny, Monica Husti, Ben Kenchington, Anthony Prosser, Gaz Trahearn, Josh McMillan, Mark Thomas and Giles Mason.

Silver medal winners: Chris Lambswood, Nicky Taylor, Razvan Catilina and Dave McGuire. Brown bronze medal winners: Dean Bradbury, Alex Enache and Chris Sloan.