CLUB NEWS
28th October 2008:Success in the Gutenberg Cup, Gutenberg, Germany
30 gymnasts from Monarchs Acrobatic Gymnastics Club travelled to Mainz-Laubenheim in Germany last Friday for an international competition, which was held over three days. This was the third year in succession that we entered the competition and head coach Tony Merrett was presented with a trophy for the club's continued support as well as introducing new clubs from Great Britain to the competition. Gryphon West Acrobatic Gymnastics club and Heathrow both took part for the first time this year. There were also several German teams as well as teams from Bulgaria, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium taking part.We left home at 3.30 on Friday morning and the gymnasts were still competing at 10.30 that evening so it was a fantastic result for the age group 11-16 trio, Abbey McArdle, Gemma Lewis and Jazmine Bassett who not only won gold medals being a whole mark ahead of the silver medallists but were presented with a trophy for the overall highest score of the competition that evening. Also winning gold medals in the same age group were Ashley Payne and Katie Hoskins. Katie had four routines to perform that evening, two with Ashley and two with her trio partners Natasha Harvey and Lily Lawson, as did Yanika Johnson with Chloe Sadiq in a pair and Chloe and Rachel Jones in a trio. Monique Walcott & Mia Rowlands just missed a bronze medal by 0.1 of a mark finishing in 4th place.
Saturday's competition was the Junior and Senior section and Monarchs trio Jordan Emmett, Monique Walcott and Jessica Titcombe had to withdraw as Jessica was in plaster after taking a hard fall and breaking her arm in training at the club a couple of weeks before. Jordan stood in to judge on the Sunday alongside senior trio base Naomi Baskwill who judged for the whole weekend. This was both girls first time judging an international competition and did an outstanding job on their panels.
Sunday was the turn of the C class competition with some of the youngest gymnasts taking part for the first international competition. Elana Titcombe was the youngest gymnast taking part (just 7 this month and not old enough this year to compete in Great Britain) with partners Tallulah Harris and Leonie Warburton. Leonie makes it the third generation in the club with granddad Tony the head coach and mum Mandy who was an ex gymnast and now coach and choreographer. Sian Coogan aged 8 had an excellent competition with partners Shannon House and Alice Diamond, as did her sister Nicole with her partners Katrina Titcombe and Georgia Green. Emily Shortland, Crystal Hale and Ellie Cater looked superb and just lost out on a medal with a small technical error. Emily and Ellie also competed in a pair. Just missing bronze medals were Connor McKenna and Jacob Baker and Sean McKenna and Casey House.
An excellent time was had by all and club coach Simon Lewis who took his camera along with him managed to take over 1,000 photos of the event, some of which will soon be put on the club's web site: www.monarchs-gymnastics.org.uk The gymnasts travelled back on Monday morning leaving at 5.30am and went straight back to training in the evening ready for the British Tournament at the end of next month.
Any new members interested in joining the club please telephone 01278 793457 for details
COMPETITION PHOTOS