Medals for town acrobats

10:16am Saturday 19th July 2008

Andover Gymnastics Club recently attended the last competition of the season held at the Kingston Centre in Milton Keynes.

The annual summer tournament event, restricted to southern region clubs, brings together all levels of tumbling and acrobatic gymnasts, from beginner through to international competitors. AGC's acrobats were in evidence throughout the day, starting with the lower grades and progressing through to the top international level.

The club's only level one pair of Kathleen Parkinson-Hill and Hannah Sullivan, in the largest group of the day, produced a strong routine and some of their individual skills in particular looked near perfect. They were rewarded with the highest execution and artistry scores of the group and won gold.

Frances Lawrence, Amber Patel and Morgan Oakes were competing as a level one trio for the first time. Although having only six weeks of preparation time due to previous competitions (Frances and Morgan winning gold at women's pairs in both the recent NDP prelims and the inter-regional finals), the girls stepped onto the floor with style and danced their way through a very clean and tidy routine to win gold on their first outing.

Sian Wilkinson, Millie McGaughey and Emily Tyler were competing in their first competition after progressing to a higher level. Their grade two routine, although lacking in difficulty, was performed cleanly, earning them the silver.

AGC had four entries at level three, three of whom have also just moved up a grade. First of the mixed pairs were Lee Barnard and Rachel Wiseman and the presentation of their routine has continually improved but one error cost them valuable marks. Craig Gadd and Lauren Tyler were next up, again with all new moves, and produced a routine to earn silver, with Lee and Rachel claiming bronze.

First on of the grade three trios was Ellie Vanderplank, Molly Batchelor and Jade Lloyd, again in their first outing at this level. All three handled the pressure well and produced a clean routine, earning them the silver. The trio of Lucy Jones, Lauren Parrett and Jasmin Patel knew they were starting with a lower difficulty value but stepped on the floor determined to give their best. Their approach paid dividends - with only minor errors throughout the routine the judges rewarded them with gold.

The morning competition finished and the consistent quality produced by AGC gymnasts earned them the annual Junior Floor award.

Next came the higher international levels and the medals continued. The FIG 11-16 pair of Charlotte Tyler and Elizabeth Vinten claimed gold, FIG 11-16 trio Hannah Jones, Amy Jones and Hollie West claimed gold with the highest score of the day. The FIG senior trio of Rachel Gadd, April Beeson and Charlotte Kestle started their routine well but an injury incurred in a tumble caused them to withdraw - a disappointing result after their months of hard work. The FIG out of age trio Iesha People, Rebecca Butcher and Holly Guiver were on after seeing their team mate taken off to hospital but performed well enough to claim silver.

Some of the acrobats also tumbled on the day - with Charlotte Kestle winning gold and Lee Barnard silver. Two of the club's international gymnasts, Kristoff Willerton (gold) and Jenna Barret (fourth), cut short their national squad training weekend to compete.

Other FIG tumblers competing were Abigail Luxton and Charlotte Biles (joint first) and Nico Hunt (third) in the 8-10 year band, Laura Seelig (first) and Hannah Fitzgerald (second) in the 11-12 year band.