Ten Spelthorne gymnasts headed to Stoke-on-Trent on the weekend of 1st and 2nd June to represent South East England in the National Tumbling Finals.
Each gymnast had to execute two tumbles in the heats; with the top scorers earning a place in the finals and the opportunity to perform their third tumble.
On Saturday, national grades 1 to 3 were contested. Competing at grade 1 were Sophie Reynolds (women’s 9-10 years) and Bradley Gold (men’s 9-10 years). Both young gymnasts showed great composure to comfortably reach the finals, Bradley in first place and Sophie in second (despite suffering an injury to her humerus which had prevented her from taking part in the acro national finals in May). Competing at grade 2 were Ethan Law (men’s 9-10 years) and Katie Blackford (women’s 11-12 years). Katie came out strong to convincingly earn a place in the finals in first position. Ethan made a couple of errors which put him in fourth position going forward. Spelthorne’s grade 3 gymnasts Finlay Gray (men’s 11-12 years) and Louisa Dewey (women’s 13+ years) were our final competitors of the day. Finlay displayed his usual accuracy and confidence to lead the way into the finals, whilst Louisa executed great tumbles to qualify in sixth place in an extremely tough group.
The finals took place later in the afternoon and what a wonderful afternoon it was. Ethan put earlier mistakes behind him to score highest in the final round, but it wasn’t quite enough to earn him a medal as he retained fourth position overall. Louisa again performed well and managed to pull up to fifth place. Bradley and Finlay withstood the pressure to hold on to their leads, earning them each the well-deserved title of National Champion. Sophie and Katie also rose to the challenge to achieve second places. Two Gold Medals and Two Silvers for Spelthorne and a great day's work.
Day two of the competition saw national grades 4 to 7 and Spelthorne’s older gymnasts in action. Our tumblers had jumped two grades this season so the competition was going to be tough. Competing at grade 5 were Oliver Coombs (men’s 13-14 years), Ellie Coombs (women’s 15+ years) and Chris Tierney (men’s 15+ years). Oliver and Chris performed neat tumbles to each be placed in fourth position going into the finals. Ellie led the day’s Spelthorne scores after the heats, but stiff competition meant that she qualified in seventh position. Our grade 6 tumbler Oliver Baines (men’s 13+ years) faced some very experienced opposition but held his nerve to qualify for the finals in fourth place.
Again, all of our gymnasts through to the finals, a fantastic achievement. Ellie held her composure and managed to pull up to sixth place. All three boys performed steady tumbles to hold on to fourth position, with Oliver C. closing the gap to miss out on the bronze medal by a mere 0.1 points, and Oliver B. missing out by 0.4.
The new format of the competition, away from acrobatics for the first time, was interesting and a fabulous weekend was had by all. Two full length tumble tracks with constant action and a dedicated audience made for a friendly and exciting weekend.

Visit the GALLERY to view more photos of the competition.