10 of the Club’s boys travelled to Barnstaple over the weekend to take part in the National qualifiers for the Club and Elite Grades. Competing Under age at Level 1 were Leandros Papastavros and Joe Mitchell. There were no National places for these boys, but they both performed very well and up against 15 other gymnasts from the South West did amazingly well. Leandros finished in 2nd place on Floor with a great score of 9.05 his best piece by far and an overall ranking of 8th. Joe made a small mistake on Floor, but finished a credible 12th place overall.
In the Level 1 ‘In age’ Club event – Cameron Jenkin took 2nd place on Vault, Floor and P Bars with excellent scores on both PPP and Rings also finishing top 5. Unfortunately a fall on Pommel and a very low High Bar score put pay to National qualification but a wonderful 8th place despite his broken wrist in June. Team mate Aidan Hunkin had a fantastic competition and took 3rd highest Vault score and a great 16th place overall. There were 20 gymnasts in this category.
Level 2 Club event – Matthew Bolton was unstoppable taking the overall 1st place and a certain qualifier for the National Finals to be held in Birmingham on 2/3 November. A very deserved medal with his hard work over the last few months in preparation for this event.
Level 3 Club event – Kai Cornish struggled in the lead up to this event, and had to work very hard to achieve some of the more challenging routines, particularly on PPP. Kai finish a credible 7th place overall, missing National finals by 1 place! There is always next year Kai!!
Level 6 Club event – Jacob Hubbard took the overall 4th place in this event making the National Finals with a much improved performance. Jake has also struggled to make some of the more complex routines, but handled the pressures of the competition well, even with a nose bleed on Rings!! Wells done Jake.
Level 2 Elite – An extrememly hard fought event with Elliot Bullen always just mising the top spot behing a yound National gymnast from Exeter. However, Elliot had his luck ‘Ferrari’ red t shirt with him for luck and a great PPP routine for 9.80 and overall amazing Floor score of 9.35 saw Elliot beat the rest of the field with a Gold medal winning performance. Elliot will also compete in Birmingham as part of the South West Squad team.
Level 3 Elite – Matthew Heaney, fighting for an Elite Team place after competing at Club level last year saw Matt have to pull every routine out of the bag. A great PPP, Floor and APP contibuted to his slightly weaker High Bar and Pommel scores. An overall 4th place at the end of the event and securing his place to attend the National Finals with the South West team made his weekend.
Level 4 Elite – Calum Walklett had already qualified from a controlled event the week prior to the competition in Barnstaple with a credible total of 64. However, it was up to Cameron Wheat to try and now make the team with his routines. A much improved PPP for a score of 8.60 saw Cameron off to a great start, but with a fall on P Bars and a slightly under performed Pommel Cameron’s score dropped considerably half way through the competition. Having to fight for a 70% pass to make Nationals Cameron certainly needed to make up the scores. At the end of the competition a score of just over 61 and a Silver medal secured his National final place.
A fabulous set of results to end a great weekend. National Finals in Birmgham on November 2nd & 3rd – Good luck to all you boys making the teams.
