Gymnasts and tumblers strike gold at qualifiers
GYMNASTS and coaches from Loughborough Acrobatics Gymnastics Club are celebrating huge success in both their tumbling and acrobatics National qualifiers with seven tumblers and 12 acrobatics partnerships winning their sections and making it through to the British NDP finals.
First up were the club’s tumblers, who specialise in linking together flics and somersaults in a fast, action paced manner. The club had 15 In age tumblers across seven different categories, and 4 out of age tumblers. Starting at National level 1, they had Abi McCoole (11/12yrs) who won Gold; with team mates Abi Brown in 4th and Shakira King in 8th. Oscar Toyne (11/12yrs boys) took the bronze medal. At National level 2 Boys (13/14 yrs), Jake Bruno secured the silver and Will Jurkowski the bronze.
Moving up to National level 3, this was the club’s busiest and most successful category, winning four Golds with, Archie Marsh (11/12 boys); William Adcock (13/14 yrs boys); Isabella Carmichael (15+ Girls), and Bailey Durr (15+ Boys). Also in this section at National 3 Girls 15+, the club took a full podium with Bethany Potter in silver and Georgia Brewster in Bronze. Jake Rollings took the bronze for the boys 15+ section and Billy Drewe, 4th, and William Pimm 5th Place.
Finally, in the girls out of age section at National 1, Caitlin Hopewell (13+ yrs) took Gold and Faith Twist bronze and for the boys Henry Mann won Gold and Peter Atkins the Silver.
The club now has all in age tumblers who finished in Gold or Silver place going through to both the British NDP finals and the English Championships at the beginning and end of June.
Tumble squad coach Tad Skubala said: “Following months of preparation and hard work, I am very happy with the squad’s strong performance and final results. We now have a lot more hard work in preparation for the finals in June.”
Next up, on March 8 was the Acrobatics National qualifiers. The club had a large team with 22 partnerships contending for places across 12 different categories. New this year was the introduction of a minimum score criteria, so just winning a category was not be enough to qualify through if the score requirement was not met.
Staring with the Grade 1 level it was a clean sweep for LAGC partnerships with Women’s pair Frankie Harrison & Emily Van Rensberg and mixed pair Jacob Wood & Isla Beresford taking the Gold and teammates Matilda & Eliza Foreman winning the silver.
Moving up to Grade 2 the club secured two more Gold medals with men’s pair George Camarco & Oscar Toyne and mixed pair Jamie Sheard & Erin Gocer.
At Grade 3 in Women’s pairs, Harriet Butters & Eleanor Regan secured another Gold and in the men’s pair section, new pairings Jake Bruno and Harry Boyd won Gold and Christian Marinescu & James Prevost won Silver.
At Grade 4, this was the biggest category of the competition, however, the success continued with a full podium at Grade 4 Women’s pairs for pairings Ellie Hammond & Millie Bush (who also won the highest artistry score of the day), Gold; Silver went to Issy Willcocks & Isla Mardel and bronze was won by Holly Drewe & Hannah Toyne. An uncharacteristic mistake from partnership Ella Curtis & Felicity Coles impacted on their technical score to see them finish in 6th and Emily Beer & Millie Goldfinch finished in 9th place.
Titles were also secured for Grade 4 women’s group Lorelie Gough, Rhaya Atkins & Amelie Monk; Grade 4 men’s pair and current British Champions, Monty Bezzano-Griffiths & Albert Purdy and Grade 4 mixed pair Jack Hutchinson & Holly Coulson. Also at Grade 4, Elicia Pancholi-moore, Issy Baker & lilla Capper won bronze, Bryonie Ellis, Sophie Hammond & Lizzy Jarvis finished 4th and Leah Porter, Ellie Roberts & Ruby Maddern, 6th.
In the Youth women’s pairs section, LAGC continued its medal haul with Gold for pair Grace Durrands & Ella Wilson and Silver for Isabella Carmichael & Anna Acourt.
Finally at Grade 5, acrobats need to be consistent over two different routines, new pairing Jack Wesson & Olivia Snutch went on to secure the clubs 12th Gold medal and regional title.
The club has successfully qualified for British NDP finals in May in 11 categories and also secured a place at the Inter-regional Championships in Southampton in May with 3 partnerships.
Head coach, Kathryn Ford said: “This a great achievement and a reflection on how hard our coaches and gymnasts work. We are looking forward to the next competition round on a National stage.”