Jeff Allen starts his quest for another gold medal at the Canadian National Judo Championships this weekend, having bounced back from a significant upper body injury sustained late last year that threatened to derail his season.
After wrapping up a strong 2016 that saw Allen win gold and bronze medals at the Ontario Open, followed by his first World Championship medal, a bronze, just a few weeks afterwards in Fort Lauderdale, Allen returned home in great shape only to suffer a serious injury when he ruptured his bicep at work. Undergoing emergency surgery on his arm, doctors were able to re-pin Jeff’s muscle back to the bone using a steel rod, with a recommended six-month recovery period before he could resume fighting activities.
He was back on the mat and competing three months later.
“I was the first surgery of the new year, the first one in the room,” said Allen. “Within a couple weeks I bounced back pretty quick, and started getting my strength back. I started doing weight training because I couldn’t do anything else, and as soon as I started building some muscle I came back pretty good.”
After consulting with his surgeon that there was no significant risk of re-injury, Jeff launched himself back into his training program with renewed vigour. He brought back a silver medal from the Peel Judo Championships in April, followed by a gold at the Tora Invitational Tournament earlier this month. The accolades confirmed to Allen that he had fully recovered from his surgery, and was ready for the national championships this weekend at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where he will be once again competing in the Masters and Senior divisions.
It goes without saying that Allen’s biggest coach, supporter and fan – his son Lucas – will also be making the trip, where a placing in the top five will guarantee the big man a spot to compete for Canada at the World Championships in Italy. That being said, Allen’s sights are firmly set on winning gold.
Jeff was not the only local medallist at the recent Tora Invitational. Chris Muirhead, who recently took over ownership of the Huntsville Judo Club along with his father (and 6th degree black belt) Ron Muirhead, also won a gold in his division, while Bradley Royal fought valiantly but came up just short in his bid to make the podium. Jeff thinks the recent success of the club has contributed to a rise in popularity in Judo in Huntsville.
“I think the exposure Judo has been getting is great. It’s in the news, people are seeing and reading about it more,” said the Judo dad. “Getting the word out that we are bringing home medals and being successful I think will continue to get more people involved. Everyone knows there’s hockey and baseball and basketball in Huntsville, but there’s more than just that. There are other sports like martial arts which sometimes get overlooked, but they shouldn’t be. They should be a part of our community.”
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As a sponsor of Jeff I encourage other local businesses to support our local athletes. They train hard and receive very little compension.
Help Jeff with his emotions no amount is too small every bit helps hopefully it will encourage our youth locally to pursue healthy activities as well as a more active lifestyle. Congratulations Jeff. From your friends at Helping Hand Muskoka
John Tuttle
President