Honiton take 6 golds at national prelims

Six partnerships from Honiton Gymnastics Club have started the acrobatic gymnastics season in style, taking gold medals at the national development plan prelims.

Three of the winning combinations will now go on to represent the south west at the national finals in Stoke-on-Trent in May

The first golds went to grade 1 men’s pair William Counsell and Ellis Cousins and Grade 1 women’s pair Courtney Richards and Evie Roberts, who were competing at the Gryphon Sports Centre in Sherborne.  Both partnerships are in Honiton Gymnastics Club’s Squad Potential Group and coached by Faye Miles.

“This is great news for our Potential Group,” said high performance coach James Reddy, “and bodes well for the future of the club.  Faye is preparing the gymnasts’ basic skills so that they can easily progress into elite partnerships and the focused training is certainly paying dividends. Two national finalists is excellent.”

Also winning golds at Sherborne, but unable to compete at national finals because of age restrictions, were grade 2 women’s pair Kaci Brookes & Kira Wootton and grade 2 mixed pair Dafyd Platt & Ava Collins.  Both partnerships are in the club’s quad Acro 2 and coached by Pam Burns and Melissa Ilsley.

In the Taunton competition, which saw higher-level gymnasts competing for honours, Honiton’s Morgan Johnson and Violet Schine secured their place in the finals after taking top honours in the grade 5 mixed pairs event.  Catie Lee and Valentine Tutcher also took gold in grade 5 women’s pairs, but again were unable to compete at national finals because of age restrictions.

“Morgan and Violet have only been together for a short time, but they’re already showing great promise and are hoping to move up to the 11-16 international age group later in the year,” added James.  “This will be great preparation for them and we’ve got high hopes for them in the national finals.”

The medals follow on from a successful competition season in 2014 where the club collected international golds, medals at the British Championships and a number of partnerships in national finals.  The club’s success has seen numbers grow from less than 50 a few years to more than 200 gymnasts currently training at the club.

In addition to the golds, there were several other medals with many narrowly missing out on top positions.  Silver medals were won by grade 4 men’s pair Jack Britton & Devon Roe Lavery, grade 4 mixed pair Callum Abbott & Keira Bonetta, grade 2 mixed pair Josh Cambridge & Kira Wotton, grade 2 men’s pair Max Shortand & Henry Neil, and grade 1 mixed pair Josh Rolinson & Daisy Spiller. Thomas Merrick & Esme Shackleton took the bronze medal in grade 1 mixed pair.

One of the toughest fought categories was the grade 4 women’s trio category grade, which included 24 partnerships.  And to add to the tension there was sibling rivalry as Lyme Regis sisters Shelley Quick and Megan Quick were in competing against each other in separate partnerships.  On this occasion though there was nothing to separate them as both their trios finished in fourth position with scores of 26.36 out of 30.

In all, 70 gymnasts from Honiton gymnasts club competed at the South West Acrobatic Gymnastics National Development Plan Prelims.  This is the biggest entry that the club has had in its 30-year history.  The national development plan (NDP) is split into six competition grades, with beginner acrobats starting at Grade 1 and more experienced gymnasts competing at Grade 5 and Grade 6.

“With so many medal-winners we shouldn’t forget the many other excellent routines that our other gymnasts performed,” added James, “often against very stiff competition.  For some it was their first regional competition, while others were making a significant step up from the previous level.  We’re proud of the way that all Honiton gymnasts performed and represented the club.