Spelthorne's up and coming sweep the board at Sittingbourne

This was the first competition for 2010 for Adam and Kate’s gymnastic group and with gymnasts heading down to Kent, it was comforting to see that the bad weather of the last couple of weeks had finally given way to a mild day for travelling to and from Sittingbourne.

We were not given any scores during the competition itself, and only some of the scores were read out at the medal presentations.  This may have been because there was only one panel of judges on the day – thus they had their work cut out just marking the gymnasts’ performances!

Opening the competition in Round 1, was the Spelthorne Grade 3 Women’s Group, comprising Charlotte, Chelsea and Zoe.  The trio took to the floor, with spectators already in situ to support them.  Performing to Sway, they executed their balance routine with enthusiasm and poise, obviously enjoying being out on the floor.

Round 2 saw our next gymnasts Charlie and Filicia, our Grade 2 Mixed Pair, competing against one other pair from Swifts.  Charlie and Filicia brought Broadway to Sittingbourne as they performed an enigmatic routine, securing their first gold medal of 2010!! 

Hayley, Bethany and Georgia, the Grade 2 Women’s trio also competed in Round 2. Competing against six other groups, our trio were upbeat, full of smiles and produced a fun but polished routine.  Needless to say, this gave them the edge and they were awarded gold medals for their efforts.    

Moving into Round 3 we had two Men’s pairs competing for Spelthorne.  Our Grade 2 Men’s Pair of Conor and Adam took to the floor to perform first.  The crowd certainly supported this pair throughout their routine.  With all their moves cleanly executed, gold medals were once again awarded to these Spelthorne gymnasts.

Rhys and Christian were competing in the Grade 1 Men’s Pair Category.  A cheerful, fun and solid routine earned them first place and more gold medals came Spelthorne’s way.

Also in Round 3, our Grade 3 Women’s Group, Chelsea, Zoe and Charlotte gave their second performance of the morning.  This time it was the tempo routine and another superb performance by this trio assured them gold medals when the morning’s medal presentation took place shortly afterwards.

The first competitors of the afternoon were Spelthorne’s Grade 1 Women’s Group, Emma, Julie and Savhanna, a newly formed trio who have shown that they have potential.  As well as competing against many other trio they were also up against our other Grade 1 group.    They performed very well with a fun, catchy routine which they performed very well.  Unfortunately they were not in the medals this time but it will not be long before they too are on the podium.

Also in Round 4, were the other Grade 1 Women’s Group, Eleanor, Gabriella and Megan.  They delivered another fantastic performance in what is a very competitive category, having some 12 other trios competing for those podium places.  Nevertheless the girls performed a lively, expressive routine with only a slight hesitation at the end which probably cost them gold.  They won joint silver position. 

Round 5 saw our Grade 2 Women’s Pair, Holly and Lauren performing their catchy routine.  Again they had fierce competition with 11 other pairs in this category but with their sunny smiles and graceful dancing they gave a beautiful performance which was clean until the second last move.  Due to a slight mistake they won Bronze medals which were well deserved  but, understandably both girls were disappointed.  They knew that Gold was within their reach.

Our last performance of the day for Spelthorne was in Round 6, and was the Grade 1 Mixed Pair, Oliver and Hannah.  Despite being the only pair in their category, they didn’t rest on their laurels and performed a stunning routine that had the crowd cheering and earned them the highest score (25.1) of the day across the Grade 1 category.  Well deserved gold medals for an elegant and expressive performance from these gymnasts, who have only recently been paired together.

Well done to all those competing on Sunday and also to Adam and Kate on their hard work in preparing the gymnasts for the competition.  The next competition for these gymnasts takes place at the end of January in Bristol.  Good luck everyone and watch this space!