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Gymnasts Triumph over Adversity to become 2015 British Champions

Our Senior Trio achieved life time ambitions this week when they were crowned British Champions at the British Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships, held at the spectacular Echo Arena in Liverpool.

On 2 August, Becky Evans, Gabs’ Jackson and Heather Nixey proved that they were the best in Great Britain, but not before they had stared defeat full in the face. Performing 3 different routines over two days, the competition started well with the girls scoring strongly to finish above their rivals at the end of Round one. Next day, confident and upbeat, the girls took to the floor to perform their second routine and inexplicably, everything went wrong. Commenting afterwards, their coaches Emma Parr and Carrie Day said: “Every gymnast at some point in their career, will suffer a ‘nightmare’ routine for no apparent reason - and this was theirs - but it could not have happened at a worse time!”

“We were in shock, admitted Gab Jackson, but we had worked so hard for this that there was no way we were going to let the chance slip away, we just had to put it behind us and focus totally on the final routine.” Now facing their biggest ever mental challenge, the girls had just a few hours to shrug off their disappointment before performing their final Routine, which would determine the winner of the British title. Determined to show their true colours, the Trio stepped onto the floor, held their nerve and performed the gold medal winning Routine - and the right to call themselves 2015 British Champions!

For Becky Evans, in particular, this marked the fulfilment of a long held ambition. “Nine years ago, when I walked through the doors of Oxford School of Gymnastics, I had no idea how much it would shape my life, I just loved the sport. I have been lucky enough to achieve almost all my dreams, including competing for GB and winning a Silver medal at the World Championships, but I have never been able to call myself British Champion until now, and to do it at Senior level is just the best feeling ever.”


First to congratulate them were their team-mates Cossi and Elspeth Jackson and Sophie Newell, who competing in the Junior category for the very first time, secured a top 5 GB ranking, a great achievement in their first competition at this technically demanding level.