Spook-tacular
TWENTY-FIVE of Rochdale Olympic Gymnastics Club’s gymnasts made an incredible return to competitive events following almost two years of Covid restrictions.
The Club travelled to the City of Newcastle Gymnastics Academy to participate in the 2021 Spooky Spectacular 4 Piece Apparatus Championships and the girls came away with some superb results.
Ellan Lang got the weekend off to a great start competing for the first time in almost four years in the Level 4, Over 12 event.
Some brilliant performances earned Ellan 1st places on Vault, Bars and Floor, resulting in being crowned the Overall Champion in 1st place Overall, a clear two marks ahead of the rest of the field.
Luci Ashton has an amazing outing in the Level 5, 12 and Over section being crowned the Overall Champion in 1st place, followed by Jessica Lees in 4th, Niamh Matthew in 6th, Imogen Hurst in 11th and Martel Emberga in 12th position.
Luci’s overall victory was aided with 1st places on both Beam and Bars. Niamh took 2nd place on Bars, Jessica earned 2nd place on Beam and Martel took 5th place on Bars.
Thea Thornsby had an impressively clean competition to finish with a very creditable 2nd place Overall in the Level 5, 11 & Under event, taking a medal position on all 4 pieces of apparatus with 3rd on Vault, 2nd on Bars, 1st on Beam and 3rd on Floor.
Amy Harrison worked her way to a 3rd place Overall finish in the Level 6, 12 & Over competition, closely followed by Hannah Pratt in 5th, Millie Nuttall in 6th, and Grace Risby in 8th place. Amy took two more 3rd places on both Vault and Bars. Hannah took 1st place on Vault and 4th on Bars with Millie taking 6th place on Bars.
The Level 6, 11 & Under section saw Daisy Whittaker take 6th place Overall, with Sophia Schofield in 15th, Alba Giordani in 16th and Lottie Peacocke in 17th place. Daisy also took 3rd place on Vault and 4th place on Bars, with Sophia taking 4th place on Vault.
A debut competition for Martha Hartley, saw her take a well earned 1st place on Floor in the Level 7, 8 yrs group, along with a 4th place on Bars for a 13th place Overall.
Olivia May Hibbert (5th), Isabelle Ahern (6th) Ellie-mae Hill (7th), Anabelle Bramwell (14th), and first time competitor Maisie Stewart (15th) all performed some great routines in the Level 7, 11 & Under event.
Olivia took 1st place on Bars, Ellie-mae earned 2nd place on Beam, Anabelle took 5th place on Bars, whilst Isabelle was deserved of 4th place on both Vault and Bars, along with a 6th place on Floor.
In the Level 7, 12 & Over event Abigail Hinchliff had a great competition to finish in 8th place Overall, earning a well deserved 1st place on Bars.
The Level 7, 9 yrs rounded off the weekend with Keira Sloan taking the Overall Title in 1st place, closely followed by Charlotte Barrett in 3rd and Tais Amorim in 12th place. Tais was credited with 5th place on Bars and 6th place on Floor.
Keira took 2nd on Bars, 3rd on Beam and 6th on Floor alongside Tais. Charlotte earned top spots on both Bars and Beam finishing in 1st place on both pieces of apparatus.
Following nine months of not being able to train through three lockdown periods, and almost two years of not being able to compete, the Club are extremely proud of the girls and their results in their first outing back onto the competition scene.
They have all worked extremely hard to get back to this position and they should all be very proud of themselves.
With the cobwebs now blown off, the girls now look forward to their next event and the run up into 2022, where hopefully Rochdale Olympic Gymnastics Club will be getting back into their usual competitive events.