Home»All Photographs»2010 Acrobatic Gymnastics»King Edmund International, British Championships, National Finals

King Edmund International, 30-31 Jan 2010. The King Edmund International (Bristol) is a big competition and attracts a high class entry in big numbers. For the coaches, its also gained a reputation as something of a marathon endurance event as the days are particularly long!! Oxford had a big entry in both the NDP and FIG categories and also put out a number of new partnerships. Cath, Rosie and Emily made their FIG Junior level debut as did Steph and Emerald at NDP Grade 4. Gabby & Siobhan were another new partnership and excelled by winning Gold. It was also Abi and James last competition together and they did themselves proud by taking the Gold medal. The final medal tally was: 5 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and we also won the NDP Team Trophy!

British Championship. It was always going to be an emotionally charged weekend, firstly because the gymnasts knew that qualification into the World trials and the GB team rested on them finishing in the top four and secondly because it was Rosie's last competition before retiring. Throughout an intense 2 days of competition, everyone stepped up when it really mattered and Oxford took 3 medals: Gold Silver, Bronze & a hard won 4th Place! It was a fabulous achievement and a fantastic end to a highly successful weekend.

National NDP Finals: 3 Golds! On 15-16 May, 5 partnerships competed at the National Finals, the biggest NDP event of the year, which is only open to the winners of the Regional preliminary competitions which precede the Finals. Steph and Emerald had to work extremely hard to secure their Gold and produced 2 quality, crowd-pleasing routines to do so. Gabby and Siobhan had a fantastic competition and finished as National Champions - a clear 1.0 ahead of the Silver medallists! Cossi and Sophie, in their first major national competition also held their nerve and took first place, which was a fitting end to their time as a pair; they move on to become a Trio with Becca Brookes. Laura, Vicky and Emma gave a personal best performance in spite of some real nerves beforehand, and were just pipped to the Bronze - while disapointed not to get on the podium, this ranked them 4th in GB - a fantastic achievement. Finally, the new partnership of James and Katie also had to conquer their nerves to produce a sharp routine, ultimately taking 5th place amongst a tough field.