1st-3rd November – Telford International Centre.
Woking’s MAG squad headed to Shropshire to deliver the fireworks this bonfire weekend. The final event in the domestic calendar, the setwork championships is the gateway to national squad selection and the most important event in a young gymnast’s year. A total of thirteen Woking gymnasts had qualified to represent the South East team at the event.
The weekend began with the Bob Currier level 3 competition and Woking’s William Middleton. Despite a few errors in the latter stages, William recovered well and performed one of his best Physical Preparation Programme (PPP) routines to finish in third place in the All-Around (AA) competition (51.382). Earning himself an invite to a MAG reward camp at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
Fionn Kelly and Mac Griffiths were representing the South East Region in the Paul Blakeborough Level 4 competition. The standard was high, and both gymnasts should be proud of their clean performances with Mac finishing 11th (56.933) and Fionn 25th (50.949).
Ruben Murdzhanov and Joseph Waterer were competing in their first national competition as part of the South East Team in the Bob Currier Level 1 competition. The team was excellent; storming to victory and beating the second-place team by over 7 marks. Joseph showed some much improved routines to finish 7th AA (50.132), whilst Ruben was 12th scoring 48.066.
With Saturday came the turn of the Level 2 Bob Currier Team and Woking’s Jude Rawlings and William Tombs. Concluding the competition on pommels; both gymnasts produced high quality routines to help the team to gold nearly ten marks ahead of their closest competitors. On an individual level both athletes were neck and neck for most of the competition with William just edging Jude to place 13th and 14th respectively within the 52 strong competition. The results of our gymnasts in the Bob Currier competition contributed to the South East region winning the Bob Currier trophy for being the most successful region in Great Britain.
The final day of competition saw the conclusion of the Paul Blakeborough Competition. In the level 2 event, Willaim Brierley, Sam Arnold and Edward Warburton-Gates made up half of the South East team, together they bettered their performance from last year and took home the team title. Sam produced some great routines, particularly on Pommels and Vault to finish 15th AA (53.666). William showed his class, and despite an error on the vault finished the competition strong to place just outside the medals in 4th place (61.449). The top performer in this age group was Edward. He has worked hard in the build up to this competition, making great improvements from this time last year, his efforts were rewarded with a bronze medal (61.449). Both William and Edward have been invited to attend a Development Squad Testing Day and a chance for selection onto the GB National Team.
Competing simultaneously were the level 1 gymnasts. In their first national competition, Alfie Collins and Aaron Prinsloo helped the South East team to bronze. Alfie had a roller coaster of a competition to finish in 20th AA (55.566). Whilst teammate Aaron had a great day showing some brilliant routines to finish agonisingly close to the podium in 4th place (63.048). He will join William and Edward at the Development Squad testing day and stake his claim for a place in the GB team.
Harlee Jean-Baptiste Shand broke his finger 5 weeks ago and was not able to take part in the South East qualifier, as a result he was not competing in the team competition but was fortunately allowed to compete as an individual. Harlee wowed coaches and judges alike, performing 7 clean routines and becoming the first ever Paul Blakeborough Level 1 Champion! His score of 65.649 was enough not only to take home the gold medal but has also earnt him automatic selection onto the GB Development Squad.
A very successful weekend for our squad with eleven out of the thirteen competitors coming home with a medal, three invites to national squad testing, one reward camp and a national champion! Well done to all the athletes and their coaches
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