For the first time in more than 10 years, Alaskan karate-ka were in Whitehorse to train and compete with the Japan Karate Association (JKA) of the Yukon.

Eleven athletes from Juneau participated in the clinics and friendship tournament on the weekend, which was held at Wood Street Schoo in Whitehorse.

Tony Nakazawa, the head of JKA Alaska, led the clinics, which were for athletes of all ages. Nakazawa also did testing for local karate-ka on the weekend.

Todd Hardy, the Yukon's chief instructor, said about 30 people in total competed in the friendly tournament, although a lot more took part in the clinics and testing.

'(The purpose was) to give Yukon karate-ka a chance to meet, train and compete against Alaska,' said Hardy. 'The secondary purpose was to have senior instructors from Alaska come and test and teach our Yukon athletes. Every instructor brings different ways of teaching and doing things.

'The big thing is to expose karate-ka to as many instructors as possible, to make them better, to gain more knowledge and become a better karate-ka.'

While many clubs don't like their members to train under other instructors, Hardy said he feels you should take advantage of topnotch instructors from around the world when you have the chance, no matter what your own club has to offer.

Diana Stephens, the chief instructor for Juneau shotokan karate, and fellow Juneau instructor Doug Murray also travelled to Whitehorse.

'The weekend has gone very well,' said Stephens after Saturday's competition. 'It's been great weather for us and the friendly (competition) was fun.'

'Mr. Hardy and his group were very wonderful hosts,' added Nakazawa. 'There were no injuries, it was a very clean, good tournament.'

Stephens said she was impressed with all of the athletes, both her own and the Yukoners, who competed in the event. The last time the two groups got together was close to 15 years ago, and while Stephens was also here that time, this is Nakazawa's first time visiting his northern neighbours.

'We wanted to celebrate the relationship we have with the Whitehorse club,' he said.

'It's more the spirit of the karate itself than competition, and the friendship we've had all these years,' added Stephens.

Anchorage will be hosting the 2006 International Shotokan Karate Federation and National Collegiate Karate tournament while Whitehorse has been awarded the 2006 Japan Karate Association Canada National Karate Championships.

So, both clubs also felt this past weekend's clinic and competition were good preparation for the upcoming championships.

'It's really good for all of us to get this exposure,' stated Nakazawa.

Hardy said the Whitehorse athletes really enjoyed doing their testing under Nakazawa, who also served as the head judge for the friendly competition.

'He's a tremendous judge. It's so tricky to be calling the matches. He will not call sloppy technique. If he's going to call it, it had better be quite good.

'Tony is also a great teacher and he presents the ideas the essence and values in the karate movement in a different way than I did.'

Hardy said while he was impressed with all of the Yukon karate-ka over the two-day event, he was most pleased with the women who got involved.

'They just embraced it and seemed to enjoy it.

'Some of the women had to compete against the men, and Rachel (Pugh), one of our brown belts, she actually won the kata in her group, against men.'

All of the karate-ka had a hectic schedule over the two days, with testing, training and competition. But despite that, they just kept coming back for more, which Hardy said is a good test of how good the instruction is.

'You can always tell it's really good when on Sunday morning, almost everybody shows up again to take more classes. You usually see a big drop, but we didn't see it.

' They all came out the next morning and went at it. It was great, especially since they partied the night before.'

Hardy and his family hosted the party on Saturday evening, featuring both Japanese and Canadian foods for the karate-ka, instructors and families that hosted the Juneau athletes for the weekend.

None of the athletes stayed in a hotel, although Nakazawa did. Hardy himself put up seven of the Juneau residents in his home.

'We had a great party and we made a lot of new friends,' he said. 'The Alaskans had an absolutely fabulous time.'

The Alaskan karate-ka will be heading home this evening, after taking an educational trip around the city, including a tour of the legislative assembly and a stop at Yukon College.

Members of the Whitehorse club may run into the Juneau athletes again in the summer, as they will be travelling to Anchorage for a karate camp in August.

And the new hope among both clubs is that the get-together will become annual, instead of every 10 to 15 years, with the Yukoners making the trip to Juneau next time around.

Full results of this past weekend's friendly competition between Whitehorse and Juneau will run in Tuesday's Star.