Huntingdon junior elite boys had a medal winning bonanza over the last two weekends – hauling in an abundance of great results. HGC boys played a significant part in the East region, winning 5 of 7 Team golds and 1 of 2 Team Silvers as well as an individual silver medal and two bronze. William Mas started the ball rolling last weekend taking Bronze at the Elite grades and Harry O’Driscol took bronze in the Setwork Challenge; HGC team-mates Tony Duchars and Charlie Hutchinson also competed well at the events in Leicester.

Huntingdon gymnast Louis Smith began his 2011 season with a superb win in Paris this weekend.  Competing in the World Cup event in front of an audience of 12,000, Smith fought off 12 of the best exponents on the pommel horse to finish in Gold medal position with a superb routine that scored 15.7.  Second place went to Sellathurai of Australia, with Bertoncelj of Slovenia taking bronze in front of French specialist Cyril Tomassone.  The
result cements Smith's reputation as one of the World's best pommel horse workers, and will serve as excellent preparation for the forthcoming European Championships in Berlin in two weeks time.

Coach Paul Hall was happy with the performance: 'This was a great start to a very important year as the British Team work to secure selection for next year's Olympic Games.  Louis has once again proved he can perform and win at the highest level.  Our target is now to stay consistent and fight for a medal at the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.

This weekend Huntingdon boys, Benji Eyre and Tony Duchars travelled to Belfast to compete in the Celtic Cup.  On the strength of his winning the U14 Welsh Championships a few weeks ago, Benji represented the Welsh team and contributed to their team victory – the team taking Gold by 10 marks over Northern Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man and Ireland.  Both Huntingdon boys scored 69.55 all around, placing them in joint 5th place - with Benji taking the highest score on P-bars and Tony (representing the Isle of Man) taking the highest score on pommels.

In Waveney our younger boys competed in the Regional Setwork Qualifications.  Owen Harrison took Gold, Patrick Murphy took Silver and James Cook took Bronze in level 2, 3 and 4 respectively.  Jacob Taylor took 4th place, Jake Jarman 5th and Joe Brown 6th place in their levels 2, 4 and 6.  These boys successfully completed the first stage in their campaign to compete at the National Finals later in the year.  Josh Thurston took Gold in the Under Age group, with Christian Norman, Aidan Jolly, Jacob Tuck, Brin Dalton, Harry Thorpe, Charlie Hutchinson and Harry O’Driscoll all competing really well.  For many of these boys, it was their first competition at this level.
 

Huntingdon gymnasts marked the beginning of a busy competition season with good performances over the weekend. Daniel Keatings, returning from injury, made the journey to Perth to compete in the Scottish Championships, his first competition since tearing a knee ligament in April last year. He worked on all 6 apparatus, scoring 84.75 to finish 2nd behind World Medalist Daniel Purvis from Southport Gymnastic Club. The remaining senior and junior gymnasts took part in the English Championships at Stoke this weekend.

In the Senior event, Louis Smith managed to retain his pommel horse title with a score of 15.00. European medalist Sam Oldham finished 8th in his first senior event and club mates Luke Carson and Ahmahd Thomas worked well scoring 80.20 and 79.85. Sunday’s competition saw Junior gymnast William Mas perform well over 6 routines to score 70.30, earning him 11th place. Harrison Cooper-Lewis finished in 21st place and team mates Benjy Eyre and Tony Duchars, competing as guests, scored 67.85 and 64.45 respectively. The boys now compete in the London Open event next weekend, while Smith travels to Paris for a Grand Prix at the end of March.

'This was a good start for our gymnasts and especially for Daniel who has just recovered from a knee operation in good time to fight for selection to the European Championships in Berlin in April'.

On the girl’s side, Becky Morris and Becky Smith also travelled to Stoke to take part in the English Espoir championships. Morris 11 years and Smith 12 years of age produced some quality work with Smith missing out on a bronze medal on floor by 0.05 for an excellent routine. Claire Stock showed some good work in the senior’s competition but falls from
the Bars and Beam proved costly as she finished 11th Overall.

Louis Smith rounded off a superb year by taking a Gold Medal at the Toyota Cup Gymnastics event in Japan last weekend. The Peterborough based gymnast beat some of the best exponents on the apparatus from around the World by scoring 15.6 with a complex routine that set a new standard as the most difficult seen in competition so far. The silver was won by Chang Ju Ha of Korea, with Japan's Kenya Kobayashi taking bronze. Great Britain's Daniel Purvis also performed well, taking silver on Floor exercise, just a few tenths behind World Champion, Kohei Uchimura.