Gordon was one of five only-female students from Armidale Brazilian Jiu Jitsu who travelled out-of-state for the competition.

After a few tough rounds in both GI and no-GI classes, the local athlete returned home with a silver and bronze medal.

“I’m from Gilgai but travel to Armidale three to four times a week to train. There is an amazing group of trainers in Armidale and our head coach has been amazing,” she said.

Usually competing in novice, Master II-III, Gordon ended up in the adult division against women much younger than herself.

However, she fought hard to remain in the top and ended up with a silver medal in the no-GI and a bronze in GI.

“I’ve been training Jiu Jitsu for almost three years, coming from a martial arts background.

“I’ve been doing mixed martial arts (MMA) since I was about 12 but after I had children I decided it was a bit much.”

Later she decided to get back into MMA and started researching her options when she stumbled across Jiu Jitsu. “It’s classed as the art of martial arts. It’s more about grappling, Judo type stuff rather than punching and kicking so I thought I’d give it a go,” she said.

She’d heard positive things about the Armidale club and decided to head over for a few classes when she became “hooked”.

“It was the best martial art class I’d ever been to and I absolutely loved it,” she said.