Magnificent 7 from Harlequin!!

May 2009 - 7 gymnasts from Harlequin travelled to Stoke on Trent last weekend to the British National Acro and Tumbling Championships. They had qualified by previously competing in the Regional championships, in which they had to win to go through to the National Finals. Gymnasts were Sofia Walker, Maja Austin, Rebecca Mead, Mollie Walsh, Sophie Black, Rory Donnelly and Jessica O'Sullivan.

The Saturday saw all Elite tumblers from over Great Britain competing for the title of British Champion. Harlequin had 3 gymnasts entered in to three different categories. Sofia Walker who competed in Elite Level 1 age 9-10, performed with utmost speed down the tumble track impressing the judges enough to achieve a silver medal- Not bad for her first British Championships.

Next Up was Maja Austin, former Reigning British Champion. Maja was competing in Elite Level 1 age 11-12. Things didn’t go quite to plan for Maja in her first tumble leaving her in a disappointing 17th Place. But in true champion style Maja showed immense determination putting the negatives behind, and performing her second tumble beautifully bringing her up to 4th position! with a score of 26.10, Maja had beaten all the gymnasts in her category by 1 whole mark, and then did the same again on her third tumble. Unfortunately this was not quite enough for a medal, leaving her in 4th place, only 0.55 away from 3rd.

Rebecca Meade was up next, competing in her 3rd National Final, and this year entering into the Elite Grade 2 age 15+, had some big competition, against 33 other gymnasts. As usual Rebecca showed such poise and self control, and tumbled beautifully down the track one after the other. A very frustrating finishing position of 4th place for Rebecca, only 0.25 away from 3rd. However still 4th Ranked in the country and moved up 2 places from 6th last year!

Day 2 saw Mollie Walsh, Sophie Black, Rory Donnelly and Jessica O'Sullivan all competing in their first National final- (apart from Rory). Mollie was first up out of the 4, competing in Ndp level 1 age 9-10 years. Performing with great confidence, Mollie Flick Flacked down the tumble track smiling all the way! Final Result was 5th Place - a superb achievement!

Sophie was next to compete in the National Finals, Her level been NDP 2 age 9-10 years. Sophie took each tumble in her stride all the way to second position, and finished up with a silver medal on the podium.

Rory Donnelly, the only boy for Harlequin this weekend was definitely out to impress, after winning a bronze medal at last years championships he was not going home empty handed- and so he didn’t! Rory watched his opposition intently, and performed with great determination. It certainly paid off leaving him also with a silver medal in the boys Level NDP2- age 13+.

Last competitor of the weekend for Harlequin was Jessica O'Sullivan. Competing in the last round of the day was always going to be tough. However, nerves certainly did not get the better of Jessica that day, and she showed what a truly determined gymnast she was. Competing against gymnasts 3 years older than herself, could have been intimidating for Jessica but she did not let it affect her performance. With intense focus and concentration Jessica tumbled her way to 4th position. A fantastic result.

Overall a an extremely successful weekend for Harlequin with 7 gymnasts all ranked in the top 5 in their categories in Great Britain- a true credit to the club, Leighton Buzzard and their Region!!