Fourteen boys from Huntingdon Gym Club took part in the British Championships, held in London this weekend. The competition proved a tough field with the highest number of entrants in modern history. So much so that an extra day had to be introduced to fit everybody in!
On Friday the 31st October it was the turn of the U12’s to show their skills. Huntingdon gymnasts Harrison Cooper-Lewis, William Mas and first time competitor Benji Eyre put in brave performances and competed admirably in a field of over 70 gymnasts.
Saturday morning started off with the all-around U16 championships. Sam Oldham performed well to finish in overall 3rd position with a score of 83.55, taking the individual gold medal on rings, silver on highbar and joint silver on pbars. Cameron Mackenzie came in at 5th position with an overall score of 78.95, taking the silver medal on rings and joint silver on pbars. Clubmates Max Bennet and Alex Brailsford came in at 8th and 13th places with a score of 77.00 and 71.35 respectively. In the all-around senior competition, Luke Folwell performed brilliantly throughout the competition. An unfortunate pommels routine cost him his first place which he had held strongly throughout the event – and finished up with a score of 86.05 and the silver medal behind Kristian Thomas from Earls who scored 88.90. Next in line from Huntingdon was Ahmahd Thomas who came 9th overall with a score of 78.70. Cambridgeshire university student, Alex Hedges came in next in 14th position with a score of 76.15 with Richard Martin following in 16th place with a score of 57.75 despite competing on only 5 apparatus.
Olympians Daniel Keatings and Louis Smith competed individually with Keatings taking the gold medal on pbars and highbar and Smith the gold medal on pommels.
On Sunday it was the turn of the U14’s and gymnasts Luke Scott and Josh Goddard scored 59.15 and 57.5 respectively. Sunday also saw the completion of the British Masters. This competition is an event made up of the top 8 scores on each apparatus from the U16, U18 and Seniors competitions combined. Once again Huntingdon featured strongly in each apparatus final: Daniel Keatings gold on pbars, silver on pommels and highbar; Luke Folwell bronze on rings and 4th place on vault; Louis Smith gold on pommels and Sam Oldham 4th on highbar.
The weekend was an intense one for head coach Paul Hall and Junior boys head coach, Benjamin Howells who spent most of the weekend on the floor supporting their gymnasts. ‘It’s been a long and grueling season of competitions and some boys have competed up to 6 competitions in as many weekends which is all good experience and can be drawn on in the future. We now look forward to Luke Folwell competing in the DTB Cup in Stuttgart and Daniel Keatings and Alex Hedges in the Northern Europeans in Iceland over the next couple of weeks.