Tauranga black belt and radio host Mark Eagle cleaned up in two divisions at the 2017 Central North Island Karate Championships, held at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre on Sunday.

Mark, who practises Fushin Ryu karate, took out the open and veteran divisions of the competition in kata.

Kata, for the uninitiated, combine different karate techniques and moves into a single routine, which is memorised by the practitioner and then ‘performed' for the purposes of grading or competition.

Often, the sequence of moves will have some practical application, such as defence against multiple attackers.

'There is a judging criteria – the power and transition between moves, and how well you know the kata,” says Mark.

'When you compete you wear either a red belt or a blue belt. You both do your kata individually, before going on together, where the judges will then raise a flag to indicate who they deemed better.”

There are three rounds in each division, requiring three different kata – and sometimes, some strategising.

'If you have one favourite kata, you're not allowed to repeat it, so you might save it for the final. Or you might use it in the first round if you're up against someone really good.”

Mark's been practising karate for more than 30 years, and runs to dojo in Ohope Beach, where he used to live.

'I still travel down once a week, as well as training with the guys here in Tauranga and the Mount. We all get on really well.”

Karate NZ Central North Island chairperson Joseph McGregor says more than a hundred competitors from as far afield as Whangarei and Palmerston North turned up.

He reckons Mark was a real standout, though.

'The guy's a legend. He's taken out gold in the veteran divisions for the last three or four years. He's always a regular medallist in the nationals, too. So he's pretty bloody good.”