NINE East Lothian martial artists have returned from an international tournament with 17 medals.

Members of the county’s Taekwon-Do clubs were celebrating after collecting seven gold, three silver and seven bronze medals at the Open World ITF Taekwon-Do Championships, held at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility.

The event, which took place over three days at the beginning of the month, welcomed more than 600 competitors aged from six to over 60.

Club representatives from across the UK were joined by competitors from 22 countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, Nepal and Australia to compete and celebrate the martial art.

The tournament consisted of four event categories – patterns, sparring, special technique (known as flying high kick) and, for over-18s, power breaking.

Participants could choose how many events they participated in, both as an individual or as part of a three-person team.

Competitors were grouped by belt (green, blue, red and black), then by age junior (6-17 years), adult (18-34 years) and veteran (+35 years).

Further classifications were made for sparring categories, segmenting juniors by height and adults/veterans into weight groups.

In total, 11 competitors from East Lothian attended the event, under the guidance of Master David Clark (East Lothian Taekwon-Do) and Kevin Tear (Dunbar Taekwon-Do).

Up first on the Friday were: black belt adult Jack McGee, green belt division adult Shaun Kennedy, veterans black belts Grace Brogan and Jaimie Jack, and green belt veteran Jennifer Jarvis, who were supported and mentored by fellow black belt and coach Claire McHarrie.

Day one concluded with the collection of two gold, two silver and three bronze individual medals, as well as a further two golds and one silver in the team events.

Seasoned championship attendee, and Tiger Club instructor, Grace Brogan was not only leading the pack but was also top of the championships leaderboard after collecting all four gold medals.

The competition continued on Saturday with the junior black belts.

Representing East Lothian were 12-year-old Lily Peacock and 16-year-old Joe Cross.

An incredibly challenging category, both competitors performed at their absolute best, with Peacock gaining a bronze in sparring.

Day three was the turn of the junior coloured belts. From East Lothian this included green belts nine-year-old Flick Thomson and 11-year-old Caelan Sherry, as well as red belt division competitors Isla McLaughlin and Holly Shotton.

All four juniors came home with medals including two golds for Sherry, a gold and bronze for Thomson and a bronze for both McLaughlin (12 years) and Shotton (13 years).

David Clark, East Lothian Taekwon-Do Master, said: “I am so incredibly proud of all our World Championships competitors.

“No matter your age or belt, it takes a considerable amout of courage to step up to the mat and compete; especially in a competition of this standard.

“A massive well done goes to all of the competitors, umpires, referees and coaches that made this championship very special.”

Medal winners were: Grace Brogan: veteran black belt, gold in patterns, team patterns, sparring and team sparring; Jack McGee: adult black belt, silver in patterns and team patterns; Shaun Kennedy: adult green belt division, bronze in patterns and sparring; Jennifer Jarvis: veteran green belt, silver in sparring, bronze in patterns; Caelan Sherry: junior green belt, gold in sparring and special technique; Lily Peacock: junior black belt, bronze in sparring; Flick Thomson: junior green belt, gold in special technique, bronze in patterns; Isla McLaughlin: junior red belt division, bronze in sparring; and Holly Shotton: junior red belt division, bronze in sparring.

Further information about Taekwon-Do classes available in East Lothian can be found at uktc.co.uk