Following the regional qualifier in September, Woking had qualified fifteen gymnasts to the South East team for the national finals. A long weekend of gymnastics brought lots of success for our MAG programme, in this, the final domestic event of the year.

The weekend began with the Club level 1 competition. Jude Rawlings, Harvey Holland and Fabian Higgins made up half of the South East team. Competing in a tough field of 65 gymnasts, the boys performed brilliantly in their first national competition, helping the team to secure a silver medal. Jude posted scores of 9.5 on pommels and vault to finish 36th AA, whilst teammate Harvey completed seven clean routines to finish in a very respectable 17th place. Fabian overcame some early nerves to have a fantastic competition. His score of 63.420 was enough for 5th spot and he was duly rewarded with an invite to the BG Club reward camp. He will be joined on this reward camp by Fionn Kelly. Fionn worked consistently well across the seven apparatus to score 63.240 putting him in 6th in the Club level 3 competition. Not far behind was Declan Freeman, who scored a perfect 10 for his vault and finished the all around competition in 9th place.

Friday concluded with the Elite Grades competition. Mac Griffiths performed some great routines, including a tidy yurchencko prep on the vault to finish 21st and help his Elite level 3 team to a bronze medal. Ben Porter was competing in his final grades competition. The routines at this level are incredibly complex and the standard of the competition was high. Ben displayed some superb gymnastics and a mature attitude to finish third in the elite level 6 competition, receiving an invite to the BG development squad testing day.

Also competing in their final grades competition were Jay Coote and Max Veo-Creek. The pair performed well finishing 19th and 10th respectively. They were also delighted to help with the Club 6 team to gold, a wonderful end to their setwork careers. Eden Marlow was competing in his first national finals for a few years and helped his club level 4 team to a bronze medal. Oscar Mitchell posted on of the highest H-Bar scores of the club level 5 competition and placed 19th AA.

The final day of competition saw William Middleton perform in the elite level 2 competition. He showed improvements on his pommels and a lovely H-Bar routine to place 16th AA. Meanwhile, William Brierley, Sam Arnold and Edward Warburton-Gates were competing in their first national competition. The trio were presented with a silver medal in the Elite level 1 team competition. Edward recovered well from a shaky start to perform a great H-bar routine and place 19th AA. Sam posted one of the top pommel scores of the competition and placed 13th AA. William Brierley had a great competition, concluding with a 9.000 on the PPP and edging him into 3rd place AA. In addition to his bronze medal, William received an invitation to the BG foundation squad testing day.
​
Well done to all the gymnasts and coaches for a great end to a successful year, and good luck to those gymnasts attending reward camps or testing days. 

Woking’s MAG squad were out in force at the South East Grades Qualifiers competition held at Pegasus Gymnastics Club. The team featured gymnasts competing in their first ever competition all the way through to those in their final year of grades.

Competing externally for the first time, Harlee Jean-Baptiste Shand, Alfie Collins and Aaron Prinsloo gave a good account of themselves in the elite level 0 category. Harlee was the top scorer, finishing in 2nd (56.650), Alfie was third with 53.85 whilst Aaron finished in 5th.

Woking had a team of eight gymnasts competing in the level one elite competition. William Brierley was the pick of the gymnasts winning the all-around title with a score of 62.900. Sam Arnold (4th) and Edward Warburton-Gates (6th) will join William representing the South East at National Finals in October. Harvey Holland (7th), Jude Rawlings (8th) and Fabian Higgins (9th) will also be competing at National Finals, making up the Club level 1 team. William Tombs and Joe Roberts showed improvements from last weekends control competition and are reserves for national finals.

In the Club level 3 competition, Declan Freeman overcame his fears to compete his tuck back dismount from P-Bars and finished 2nd AA whilst teammate Fionn Kelly took home the AA title with an impressive total of 65.850. They too will compete at national finals where they hope to emulate the success they enjoyed last year.

The second round of competition saw William Middleton (Elite level 2), Mac Griffiths (Elite level 3) and Oscar Mitchell (Club level 5) all win silver in their respective categories. Eden Marlow was 5th in club level 4. The club level six competition was a closely fought battle with only 4 out of the 5 gymnasts making the team for national finals. Max Veo-Creek (3rd) and Jay Coote (4th) were pleased that their performances ensured they would be part of the regional team. Finally, Ben Porter won the elite level 6 competition with near perfect performances on both pommels and PPP.
​
In total 15 gymnasts will represent the South East across nine different age categories. This is more than any other club in the region. The success of Woking’s MAG programme was recognised with the awarding of the President’s Trophy. This trophy is presented to a club for performances within the region throughout the year. Scores from the Regional Voluntary and Grade qualifiers competition are added totalled. Woking scored a massive 853.15, over 300 marks ahead of the next club. Congratulations to all gymnasts within the MAG programme who have contributed to this success. 

Eight teams from across Great Britain were battling it out for the U16 team title in the Bill Williams Trophy. Woking’s team of Oli Porter, Rio Chadiram, Max Veo-Creek, Jay Coote and Ben Porter, were to compete in the first subdivision.  Starting on rings, team captain Oli delivered a strong opening performance to score 12.35. The rest of the team followed suit, concluding with a stuck dismount from Rio. On vault, all gymnasts hit their vaults averaging an impressive 13.083. Ben performed a lovely routine on the P-Bars but unfortunately over-rotated his dismount and incurring a 1.0 deduction, the team rallied together with Oli again delivering a superb captain’s performance, posting a personal best score of 12.65. High bar and floor were strong apparatus with all five gymnasts hitting their routines. Ben’s 12.9 was the highest floor score of the day, and together with Oli and Rio, the team total of 37.85 was a whole mark higher than the second-place team. Heading into the last apparatus, pommels, the Team were leading the first subdivision and they knew three clean routines would all-but guarantee a medal. Max put his arm up first, performing the best pommel routine he had ever done to fill the team with confidence, next up was Ben. He was delighted to complete his difficult routine with flair and travels for the first time in competition. One more routine was all that was needed, that third clean routine came from Jay, who held his nerve to deliver when it mattered. After the first sub-division, Woking sat top of the rankings almost 10 marks clear of second place, but the Team knew there were strong competitors yet to come.
​
As the score came in for the second subdivision, Woking knew they were going to get a medal, but which colour? Notts gymnastics academy finished with some strong pommel routines to take the gold, whilst Huntingdon’s H-bar was not enough to match the score Woking had posted, meaning a brilliant Silver medal for our U16 team. This was the last event of a long competition season and the whole Team can be very proud of how they performed, once again demonstrating that Woking is one of the best Men’s Artistic Clubs in the country. 

Jamie Lewis travelled to Croatia to represent Great Britain in a world challenge cup in Croatia.

Even though Jamie hasn’t competed for Great Britain for almost a year, he performed some great routines on Pommel, Rings, P-Bar and H-Bar. Jamie qualified for the Pommel Final scoring 14.200 qualifying in 5th place and was first reserve for the Rings Final.

In the final Jamie executed a clean, lovely routine and narrowly missed out on a medal by less than 0.1 finishing fourth scoring 14.433.
​
Congratulations Jamie.

The London Open is a prestigious event in the British Men’s Artistic calendar, and in it’s 113 years of history a long list of European, World and Olympic medallists have competed.

The weekend began with the “Trevor Low” U16 competition. Woking’s Rio Chandiram was pleased with his improved landings of his double back somersaults on Floor, Rings, P-bars, and H-Bar, and finished the competition in 17th place. Oliver Porter showed great improvement in his performance from the previous national competitions, competing some of the most difficult routines in the whole competition he finished in 4th place All-Around and took home a silver medal on the Rings.

In the “Max Whitlock” U14 competition, Ben Porter displayed a brilliant attitude to recover from an early error on the Rings, his upgraded routines earnt him the 3rd spot AA. He also won silver medals on Floor and Rings, and a second bronze medal for his P-Bar routine. Max Veo-Creek didn’t have his best day but finished strong with a clean Pommel routine to place 26th AA. Jay Coote, recovering from injury, only competed on pommels. He managed to compete his Magyar successfully for the first time and was a great help to his teammates as they went around the competition.

Josh Porter and Santo Fuoco were competing in the U18 “Peter Moore” competition. Josh put in some consistent performances, finishing inside the top 10 on every apparatus and 7th AA. His highest position came on the Rings where he won bronze. Santo performed on five apparatus, placing 9th on vault.

The final competition of the weekend, the showpiece event, was the Westminster Cup. Jamie Lewis did not let the pressure of the occasion get to him and delivered some world class routines to win first place. He won an additional gold medal for his Floor routine, and bronze on Pommels, Rings and H-bar. This performance will undoubtedly give him confidence as he gets ready to represent Great Britain at the World Challenge Cup in Croatia next month. Rudi Moriano was also competing, finishing 19th on Pommels and 17th on P-Bars.
​
In another successful outing for our MAG squad, the total of eleven medals across the four competitions was more than any other club in the country. 

​ The weekend of 22nd-23rd April saw 130 gymnasts from across the South East region descent in Guildford Spectrum, Guildford to decide who is going to be crown as South East Regional Champion in their respective grades.
 
Round 1 featured Zara Naidu & Kimberley Ly in Compulsory 2 and Nicole Murdzhanova in Compulsory 4. The compulsory 2 event acted as a warm up for the National Compulsory 2 competition that will take place in Stoke-on-Trent over the weekend of 20th-21st May. However, both Zara and Kimberley put in solid routines to demonstrate their excellent progress in one of the most challenging and competitive levels. Zara managed top 5 finishes on both Beam and Range, whilst Kimmie finished with the top score on beam and top 3 on floor and range, helping her to 2nd place all around. Nicole followed suit, posting the top score on range and the second highest scores on beam and floor on her way to securing all around bronze in the tightly contested compulsory 4 competition.
 
 In round 2 on Saturday, Woking had 3 gymnasts competing in the compulsory 5 competition. Annabelle Chau, Aissa Costea and Isabella Edgar all performed great routines to finish in the top 6 all around. Isabella, in a field consisting of several gymnasts years older than her, finished 5th on vault and 6th on bars, beam and range securing 6th all around. Aissa finished joint 1st on bars and 4th on beam to secure 5th all around. And Annabelle finished 2nd on beam and floor, 3rd on vault and range, 4th on bars to finish 3rd all around.
 
The final round of Woking gymnasts took place on Sunday afternoon, with Bella-Rae Wheeler and Mia Vernon competing at National Grade 3, one of the busiest and hotly contested competitions of the weekend. Both gymnasts showed off good routines to comfortably pass their grade, with Bella finishing in an impressive 4th place all around in her age group, narrowly missing out on a medal. Mia ended the competition with the 2nd highest score on beam, whilst Bella ended with the highest score on range for the second consecutive year.
 
 A huge congratulations to all of the gymnasts and coaches for all of their hard work and for another successful competition. 

​23rd April. Pegasus Gymnastics Club
Woking’s MAG squad again demonstrated their strength in depth as they enjoyed a successful outing at the regional championships. Twenty gymnasts competed across eight age categories, winning an incredible medal haul of 28 Gold, 21 Silver and 8 Bronze! Including four All-Around regional titles.
Our team of six U9 gymnasts were competing in their first ever voluntary competition and made a big impact on the region, winning medals on every apparatus. William Brierley was the star performer of the morning, winning the All-Around competition, Pommels, Rings and P-Bars and finishing second on Floor. Second in the AA was Sam Arnold. Sam also won silver on Pommels, bronze on Floor, Rings and P-Bars and took home a gold medal for his H-Bar routine. Just outside the AA around medals was William Tombs, finishing 4th AA he also won a silver on H-Bar. Harvey Holland was 5th AA, with a bronze on Pommels and a silver on Rings. Jude Rawlings narrowly missed out on a podium spot finishing 7th AA, he will be hungry to improve on this at the next outing. Completing the U9 competition, Joe Roberts finished 12th, landing on a gold medal on Vault!
William Middleton was the sole Woking representative in the U10 competition. He recovered well from some early errors to finish 3rd AA with two silver medals for his Pommel and H-Bar routines.
Competing in the U12 competition, Fionn Kelly came 2nd AA, 1st on Floor, 2nd on Pommel, 2nd on Rings and 3rd on P-Bars. An error on vault resulted in a zero score for Declan Freeman and all-but ruined his chances of a medal in the all-around. After a pep talk with coach Steve, he recovered well to win gold on P-Bars and Rings and a Silver on H-Bar. Eden Marlow was 4th AA winning silver on vault.
Joseph Waterer was competing in his first ever external competition. He brushed aside any nerves he may have had to deliver some great routines, winning gold on floor and rings and finishing 5th AA in the Under 8 Competition. His competition ran alongside the senior gymnasts, and it was great for him to see where his journey of gymnastics could one day take him. Jamie Lewis and Rudi Moriano were competing in said competition. Jamie has been nursing some slight injuries and only competed on two apparatus, he delivered top routines on the pommel horse and horizontal bar to win gold in both events. Rudi placed second in the All-Around Competition, but his highlight was undoubtedly sticking his handspring double front to win gold on vault.
Woking had two competitors in the U16 competition; Rio Chandiram put in some consistent performances to finish 3rd AA. Teammate Oli Porter showed some top-class gymnastics to take the top spot. In addition to the AA title, Oli won a further two gold (PH, SR) and four silver (FX, VT, PB, HB) apparatus medals.
It was a Woking 1-2 in the U14 competition. Ben Porter, trying some upgraded routines, walked away with an incredible 6 gold medals (AA, FX, PH, SR, PB, HB). Max Veo-Creek scored a season’s best 64.10 to finish 2nd AA, winning the regional vault title along the way.
Not to be outdone by his younger siblings, Josh Porter delivered a mature performance in the U18 competition winning the AA-Around title for a second consecutive year with a career high 75.55. He also won gold on Floor, P-Bars & H-Bar, Silver on Pommel Horse and Rings, and a Bronze on vault. Joel Ireland, also in the U18 Competition was a little disappointed to finish 4th AA but did win bronze on Rings. Santo Fuoco was competing on just four apparatus and earnt himself a silver medal on vault.
Overall it was a fantastic day for the Woking MAG programme, other coaches and judges praised not only the quality of gymnastics but also the culture of passion and teamwork that our gymnasts showcased. 

Thirteen gymnasts represented Woking at the British Championships.

Thursday saw the MAG Under 16 age category kick off proceedings for Woking gymnasts.  Oliver Porter and Rio Chandiram competed with a few silly errors finishing 17th 65.350 and 29th 59.600 respectively.  Oliver performed a lovely P-Bar routine scoring 12.150 finishing in 3rd place.

Woking had three representatives in the MAG U14 competition on Friday. Ben Porter, Jay Coote and Max Veo-Creek.  Ben performed amazingly with six clean routines and some beautiful gymnastics finishing in 1st place and retaining his Under 14 British Title!  Ben scored 75.900 (0.1 ahead of second) and collected medals on five apparatus; Floor 3rd; Pommels 2nd; Rings 2nd; P-Bar 2nd; and H-Bar 1st.  Jay performed well finishing 23rd scoring 64.650 and narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing 4th on Vault.  Max finished 33rd scoring 63.000.

The WAG Junior age category also got underway on the Friday, Woking had Lily Clarke-Moss competing in her first British Championships and Annabella Higgins competing only 6 weeks from being crowned Scottish Junior Champion.  Both girls performed well with Lily finishing 33rd scoring 41.900 and Annabella finishing 35th scoring 41.600.

The MAG U18 competition began early Saturday morning. Woking’s team of Josh Porter, Joel Ireland, Sarp Orbay and Santo Fuoco were ready to show what they can do.  Josh performed some lovely routines and finished the competition in 11th place with a score of 72.150, he also qualified for apparatus finals on P-Bar and H-Bar.  Sarp performed well after missing a lot of training due to his studies, finishing 23rd scoring 68.100.  Joel’s highlight was catching his new release and catch on H-Bar at the second attempt!  Joel had a clean competition otherwise and finished 25th scoring 67.100.  Santo performed two good vaults and narrowly missed out on the final with an average score of 13.250 finishing 9th.

The showpiece event of the weekend was the MAG Senior competition. Amongst a field containing European, World and Olympic Medallists, Woking’s Jamie Lewis put in another solid performance to finish 5th in the all-around competition.  Rudi Moriano was also competing in his first senior British Championships, having only been a reserve originally.  Rudi was called into the competition ten minutes into the warm-up.  Rudi competed brilliantly showing his quality finishing 19th scoring 70.350.  Rudi also qualified for Vault Final.

The final day of competition was the Finals day for the Senior Men and Under 18 age categories.  Woking had Joshua Porter competing on P-Bar and H-Bar in the U18 MAG.  Josh performed two lovely routines finishing 4th on H-Bar and 3rd on P-Bar.  Jamie qualified for Floor, Pommels and Rings Finals in the senior age category.  Jamie finished 7th on floor, 4th on rings, and showed his class to take home the silver medal on Pommels, beating the current Olympic Champion, Max Whitlock.
​
All told it was a very successful weekend, particularly for our MAG squad who picked up a total of 9 medals spanning four age categories. Well done to all gymnasts and coaches involved.  

Seventeen gymnasts represented Woking at the English Championships. For many, the first competition of the year provided an opportunity to try some upgraded routines, and served as a qualification route to the upcoming British Championships.

Maggie Rees was the first competitor from Woking in the WAG Espoir competition.  In her first national championships, Maggie performed well to finish 42nd, with her top score coming on the vault.

Woking had two representatives in the MAG U16 competition. Rio Chandiram completed six routines without falling to earn an 18th place spot. Teammate Oli Porter was trying some big upgrades, and despite a few falls he finished the competition in 8th Place AA, winning a silver medal for his fantastic Rings routine.

The MAG U18 competition began early Saturday morning. Woking’s team of Josh Porter, Joel Ireland, Sarp Orbay and Santo Fuoco were wide awake and ready for business. Joel Ireland showed a vast improvement from last year’s event and recorded a score of 68.300 to finish in 18th place. Sarp achieved a personal milestone in competing his crucifix on rings for the first time, his all-around total was 66.35 (23rd). Santo Fuoco was competing in his first competition for nearly five years, performing on just floor and vault Santo was delighted to take home a bronze medal on the Vault. Star of the show was Josh Porter, he put in a clean and mature performance but unfortunately a fall on his final skill cost him a place amongst the top six. Josh finished the competition in 8th place with a personal best of 73.150, he was also awarded bronze medals for his performances on the Floor and H-Bar.

The showpiece event of the weekend was the MAG Senior competition. Amongst a field containing European, World and Olympic Medallists, Woking’s Jamie Lewis put in a stellar performance to take home the silver medal all around. Jamie showed his class to become English Champion on floor and rings, and won a silver medal on pommels finishing just behind the current Olympic Champion, Max Whitlock. Rudi Moriano was also competing in his first senior competition. He narrowly missed out on a medal on vault and finished 25th AA.
The final day of competition began with the MAG U12 and WAG Junior Competitions. It was great to see our boys and girls competing alongside each other. Mac Griffiths (34th), Caden O’Shea (29th), Lilly Clarke-Moss (30th) and Annabella Higgins (Guest) all gained invaluable experience that they will undoubtedly call upon later in the competition season.
​
The weekend concluded with the MAG U14 competition. Oscar Mitchell finished his first national championships in 36th place. Max Veo-Creek enjoyed a clean competition and will be encouraged by his 23rd place finish. Jay Coote performed the most difficult floor routine in the competition and just missed out on a medal on vault. He must continue to work on his execution if he is to improve on his 16th finish. Ben Porter had a near perfect start to the competition, scoring the highest vault score of the day, he went on to win silver medals on P-Bars and Pommels and was crowned English floor champion. A late mistake on Rings proved costly and he had to settle for third place in the all around competition.
All told it was a very successful weekend, particularly for our MAG squad who picked up a total of twelve medals spanning four age categories, all apparatus and including three national champions. We await the results of the upcoming Welsh Championships to confirm how many gymnasts have qualified for the British in March. Well done to all gymnasts and coaches involved.  

On Saturday 18th February, Annabella competed at her first Scottish Championships in Perth.
 
She had been selected earlier in December 2022 as part of the Scottish National Performance Programme and this was her opportunity to showcase all her hard work.
 
Annabella in her first year as a junior, started her first competition of the year on Floor where she performed a beautiful routine. Only an unusual minor mistake on landing her double twist, otherwise the tumbles and the leaps series were spotless.
 
After competing a strong Pike Yurchenko on vault she moved onto bars where she showed another very neat, confident bar routine which gained her a spot in the apparatus finals.
 
Beam was her last piece. Another mature and elegant beam routine giving her the 2nd highest score. Her acro series had a minor wobble but she managed to compose herself and continue with a confident routine.
 
She had been calm, poised and confident all throughout.
 
As the competition came to an end, she was completely unaware she had been crowned All Around Junior Scottish Champion. You can only imagine the joy and delight when she discovered this. An experience for her to build on as she works towards the British championships in Liverpool in March.
 
Many congratulations to Annabella and all the coaching team - what an achievement. Not only a Junior Champion but Woking Gymnastics Club’s first female Home Nations Champion