Photo: Sundance Martial Arts

Vernon's Sundance Martial Arts has four athletes at nationals in Quebec.

Athletes from Vernon's Sundance Martial Arts are seeking national glory this weekend.

Jack Sharkey, Shelby Richard, Kameron Beardsell and Jillian Donald are competing at the 2025 Canadian Taekwon-Do Federation International (CTFI) National Championships in Quebec.

Head coach, club owner and taekwon-do master David White said the CTFI Nationals “are a premier event in Canadian taekwon-do, bringing together competitors of all ages and belt levels from across the country.”

This year’s tournament also serves as a qualifier for the national team that will represent Canada at the 2025 International Taekwon-do Federation (ITF) World Championships in Porec, Croatia, in October.

Sundance Martial Arts has a strong history of national and international level competition. In 2023, the club hosted the CTFI Nationals in Vernon, welcoming hundreds of athletes from eight provinces. Sharkey represented Canada at the 2023 ITF World Championships in Tampere, Finland, competing in the pre-junior boys' sparring division.

Sharkey and Richard also competed at the 2024 World Cup in Mar Del Plata, Argentina last October.

The nationals will feature competition in patterns, sparring, special technique and power breaking, with divisions for both colour belts and black belts.

The national team selection camp is set to follow immediately after the tournament on May 19, in Quebec.