Some of the members of Andover Gymnastics Club.

Recently tumbling and acrobatic gymnasts from Andover Gymnastics Club competed in the British Tumbling and Acrobatics Championships at Fenton Manor in Stoke-on-Trent The first age group of tumblers included Jenna Barrett (nine-ten years). Her first run was disappointing but she worked hard to compose herself before the second run which she performed well. Kaylum Batchelor and Jamie Stanley were in the 11-12 age band and both performed cleanly to qualify for the finals in third and fourth place. In the finals Jamie produced his best ever tumbling runs to claim the silver medal, with Kaylum winning bronze.

The club's 13-14 male tumblers, Jamie Leach and William Arter performed well, finishing second and third and both qualified for the finals (Jamie first and Will seventh). As their final was a one run head to head situation, all positions were still up for grabs. Jamie maintained his level of performance to claim first and earning the British title with Will finishing eighth.

That left 15-16 year Benny Leach and Kristof Willerton to compete. In addition to the British title both were competing for a place in the European GB team. Both qualified easily and in the two run final Kristof produced tidy clean runs to achieve the highest marks of group and claim the second British title.

Benny's last run unfortunately lacked difficulty and dropped him to fourth place. Congratulations go to Kristof on both the British title and on selection for the GB team to the Europeans.

While the tumbling took place over two days the acrobatic championships took three days. All of the trios were taking part in their first British Championships - a big step up in level.

On the Friday, after a gruelling journey two of the trios had to perform their first routines. The senior trio of Rachel Gadd, April Beeson and Charlotte Kestle finished the round in third and the out of age group of Iesha People, Becky Butcher and Holly Guiver performed a clean routine to finish the round in sixth place.

On the Saturday all three trios were in action. Rachel, April and Charlotte's performance kept them in third and Iesha, Becky and Holly were fifth overall. The 11-16 trio of Hannah Jones, Amy Jones and Hollie West seemed on form but finished their first round in a disappointing 14th place.

On Sunday Rachel, April and Charlotte began to show signs of tiredness but they held on to third place. Hannah, Amy and Hollie produced a much better second routine and all produced new skills and did both the club and themselves proud.

11:13am Friday 9th May 2008

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