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Having landed three golds, two silvers and four bronzes at the 39th Traditional Taekwondo Association National Championships in Glasgow, Falkirk and Callander Taekwondo Club’s Duncan Irvine is already eyeing further medal glory for his students.

The 62-year-old 3rd Dan Black Belt, chief instructor at the club for 30 years, is optimistic about his students’ chances at the TTA Team Championships – likely again being held in Glasgow - in spring 2024.

"I do expect us to come back with a lot of medals,” Irvine told the Falkirk Herald. “Because we always do.

"One of the things that we have started to improve is our performance in the patterns category. In the past we have been focusing more on sparring but now we are focusing on both. So my expectation is that we’ll do well in the Team Championships, especially in the patterns.”

Chief instructor Duncan Irvine (1st left) with his medal-winning students, referee William Ferguson and Grandmaster TK Loh, the head of the TTA

Irvine’s confidence appears fully justified given his Falkirk stars’ brilliant overall display at the aforementioned national championships on November 5, which were hosted by Grandmaster TK Loh, head of the TTA.

The youngsters, coached on the day by Areti Lymperopoulou, Tony Devine and Angus Young senior, were also aided by William Ferguson who was a sparring referee.

In the female adult 2nd Dan category, Falkirk and Callander Taekwondo Club’s Toni Kent took patterns silver while Eva Morrison landed bronze, great achievements for both competitors who have just moved up to the adult category this year.

In the junior section, in the red belt, patterns aces Faye Burns, Arlo Cathro-Brown and Ross Duff all did excellently with Cathro-Brown just pipping Burns to take bronze. In the junior green belt category, Ellis Morrison claimed silver.

In cadet male, Luke Smith won three tough fights to take under-33kg to 37kg gold, Lee Skelsey took bronze in 37 to 41kg, Tom Nicols landed gold in the 45 to 49kg category and Angus Young just missed out on the medals.

In junior male sparring, Cathro-Brown won gold while Duff took bronze.

The club trains at Graeme High School from 7 to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

To join, contact Irvine at https://www.facebook.com/FalkirkTaekwondo/ or call 07713 193841. There are free sessions from the start of December to the end of January.

Falkirk and Callander Taekwondo Club chief instructor Duncan Irvine eyeing further medal glory after success at Traditional Taekwondo Association National Championships in Glasgow

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