Hawkes is aiming to be in the medal mix in Birmingham

A WELDER by trade, Omagh’s Rachael Hawkes is hoping to produce a robust performance at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

In fact, should things go according to plan the much-travelled athlete believes she has a shot at a medal in Birmingham next month.

The 27-year-old is no stranger to standing on the podium having won gold, silver and bronze at World Cup events within the qualifying period for the Games.

In Birmingham Rachael will compete in the U70kg category – traditionally one of the toughest categories – and despite lining out against no fewer than four Olympians, she is quitely confident of being in the mix for a medal.

“First and foremost I want to be the best I can be,” she said.

“I want to do Northern Ireland, Omagh, my local community and my family proud. It’ll be case of one fight at a time, focus on the fight in front of me and keep going.

“I believe I’m more than capable of getting a medal. There are a lot of big guns in there; under 70 kilos is one of the harder catergories
with very skilled fighters from Australia, England and Jamaica in particular. It’s a tough category but I’m a tough girl. I do believe I have as good a chance as anyone.”

Rachael was first introduced to judo at just six-years-old with her brother and sister when they joined Omagh Judo Club in the local leisure centre.

However it wasn’t until she was her twenties that the Mountfield woman took up the sport seriously. Since then she has travelled the world competing internationally and recently struck gold at a World Cup event in Dakar, Senegal.

She has also competed in European Championships and a number of Grand Slam events in places like Abu Dhabi, Turkey and Georgia.

Specialised training has taken the Tyrone fighter to Mongolia, Czech Republic, Spain and Croatia and Rachael is hoping that all that preparation and high level competition will prove highly beneficial when she steps onto the mat in the Coventry Arena.

“As much as anything else judo had given my great opportunities to travel all over the world,” continued the welder with Coote Engineering in Ballygawley..

“I have been all over the place training and hopefully all those different areas and experiences will serve me well. Of course at this stage there are a wee bit of nerves, that’s only natural, but I’m just excited to get going.

“The goal is to produce my best performance on the day and hopefully that will be good enough for a positive result.”