Island Top Team athletes earned nine medals at the ADCC Canadian Open in Richmond on Oct. 25. (Rob Biernacki)

By Dan Marshall

Grappling Gold

Five gold medals for Island Top Team at Canadian Open tournament

Oct 29, 2025 | 10:09 AM

NANAIMO — Island Top Team took home five gold medals at the ADCC Canadian Open grappling event in Richmond.

The Saturday, Oct. 25 event saw the Nanaimo based Brazilian jiu-jitsu contingent win a total of nine medals in the adult division and two in the kids category.

Head instructor Rob Biernacki competed down an age category and won his third ever gold medal at an ADCC event.

Biernacki won his gold medal match in 40 seconds but had a very difficult semi final against a Brazilian opponent.

“Brazilian competitors are known for a very stingy style, scoring on them can be very difficult,” Biernacki said. “I had him on the defensive throughout the match, it wasn’t until there was less than a minute left on the clock that I finally passed his guard and secured a pin for three points to guarantee victory.”

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In the Master 1 Advanced division Guillaume Leclerc took gold in a match that went into overtime.

Andell Alexander earned a gold in Master 2 Advanced while Sarah Kolybaba captured gold in her Master 1 Intermediate division.

ITT competitors Umesh Thillaivasan, Mike Childs, Jamus O’Brien and Barry Parenteau won silver medals, and Zach Charbonneau came up with a bronze.

Alexis Parenteau and Ronin Hawley competed in the kids divisions, taking a silver and gold respectively.

Biernacki heaped praise on assistant instructor Cory Burton for helping the group through the tournament.

“He did an amazing job cornering the athletes, including myself, an often thankless but critical task.”

In the kids division Ronin Hawley won a gold medal and Alexis Parenteau took silver.

Top Team had won the overall team trophy at the last two ADCC events but Biernacki said they couldn’t get the threepeat.

“Three clubs from Alberta showed up with a strength of numbers we could not match, however, we did manage fourth in the standings, putting us as the top finishing team from BC.”

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