Alice, Zara, Eleanor and Ottilie from our WAG team competed in Club Grade 6 - their first regional grade - at the Guildford Spectrum on Saturday 23rd March.

They fully enjoyed competing and showed their best routines making their coaches proud and in turn giving the club a good name. Their bar routines were specially praised by the Head Judge and there was a huge improvement in their scores from their Pre-Grades on all apparatus. 

Alice Saunders competed in the group January-June 2011 and came 8th Over All from 42 gymnasts with a total score of 61.217 and passing her Grades with Distinction.

Zara Wright and Eleanor Rees both finished in top 10 over all in a very strong line up in July- December 2011 category, with a total score of 59.700 points for Zara plus finishing in second position on Vault and Bars, and 59.483 points for Eleanor. Their team mate Ottie Greaves ended up in 15th place over all with a total score of 59.167 and toping up the ranking on Vault with massive score of 13.167 points
 
It was a very positive experience for all the gymnasts and they will be able to build on it and we expect even better routines at our next regional competition later this year. 
 
 Congratulations to all the gymnasts and their coaches 

British Championships 2019
14th - 17th March
Liverpool

U12s
Jamaal Kashim - 58.250 (58th)
Oliver Porter - 67.000 (11th), Bronze medal on P-Bars
 
U14s
Joel Ireland - 59.700 (52nd)
Thomas O'Connor - 60.050 (50th)
Alex Donchev - 65.850 (24th)
Joshua Porter - 67.950 (13th)
 
U16s
Christian Fuoco - 56.850 (39th)
 
U18s
James Miller - 64.850 (26th)
Fraser Griffiths - 70.650 (13th)
Jasper Smith-Gordon - 72.850 (9th), Silver on vault
 
Senior
Lorenzo Carrozzo - 69.450 (21st)
Timothy McCarthy - 71.450 (15th)
Jamie Lewis - 80.950 (3rd)
 
Masters
Floor - Jamie 4th
Rings - Jamie 2nd
Vault - Jasper 4th

From 14th - 17th March, the 2019 British Championships took place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. The competition started on Thursday with the U12 category. Woking’s Jamaal Kashim had an up and down day, making a few mistakes to finish with an All-Around (AA) total of 58.250. This was enough for 58th place and he will have gained valuable experience competing in the arena that will host the 2022 World Championships. Team mate Oliver Porter enjoyed a more successful day, he produced a number of high class routines, and battled through his pommel routine. There was a small error in his final routine on the rings meaning he finished just outside the top 10 with an AA score of 67.000 (11th). His standout routine of the day came on the P-Bars where he was rewarded with a 12.450 and a bronze medal.

The evening session saw the start of the U18 competition. In a tough field containing junior European medallists, the Woking trio of James Miller, Fraser Griffiths and Jasper Smith-Gordon held their own. James made a few mistakes throughout the competition and finished in 26th (64.850). Fraser, in his first competition back since injury looked good in places but his lack of fitness showed towards then end, falling on his final dismount and scoring 70.650 (13th). Jasper started with a big routine on floor, and safely made it through the subsequent apparatus without major error until he too struggled with his H-Bar dismount. Jasper was putting out his new vault for the first time and came away with a silver medal on vault, his score of 14.025 was enough to qualify for the Masters Final.  Jasper finished 9th with an AA score of 72.850.

The U14 competition took place on Friday. Joel Ireland enjoyed a good competition at his first British Championships just making a mistake on pommel horse scoring 59.700 AA and finishing 52nd. Teammate Thomas O’Connor was just ahead in 50th place with 60.050. Alex Donchev started the competition with a fall on H-Bar but picked himself up to perform five good routines, including an impressive straight yurchenco on vault, to finish in 24th (65.850). Josh Porter was the top Woking gymnast in this age group, catching his Tkatchev on H-Bar for the first time helped him to an AA total of 67.950 (13th).

Christian Fuoco was Woking’s sole competitor in the U16 age group. Mistakes on pommel and H-bar proved to be very costly as he finished in 39th place AA (56.850). 

There was a big crowd in attendance for the senior competition, with a star studded field containing World and Olympic medallists. Lorenzo Carrozzo, competing for the first time in this age group had a jittery afternoon making a few mistakes. He did however manage to catch his Kovacs on H-Bar for the first time in competition. He finished in 21st place (69.450). Team mate Tim McCarthy started with a stylish P-Bar routine, scoring 12.900. He suffered a fall from the pommel horse tarnishing an otherwise clean competition, he accrued an AA total of 71.450 enough for 15th place. Jamie Lewis was involved in a tightly fought battle for a podium position. Despite errors in his pommel routine, he finished strongly with a good rings routine to take home the Bronze medal AA (80.950). He added to this with a Bronze medal on floor where he beat the current Olympic champion.

The final competition of the weekend was the Masters Apparatus finals. This prestigious event allows the best U18 gymnasts to compete against their senior counterparts. Jamie first featured in the floor final, the current junior European champion on this apparatus he produced a clean routine scoring 13.550, this placed him fourth by way of a tiebreak. There was joy to be had on the rings, where Jamie executed his routine very well and earned himself a silver medal. Unfortunately Jamie injured his foot on his rings dismount and had to withdraw from the High bar Masters Final.  The last final of the day to feature a Woking gymnast was the master’s vault final. Jasper Smith-Gordon safely landed his two high tariff vaults scoring an impressive 14.100. Competing against gymnasts much older than him, he missed out on a medal by just 0.087. 

Congratulations to all the gymnasts and coaches Simon Elliott, Craig Woodhams, Grant Gardiner and Steve Elwood! 

English Championships 
1st – 3rd March 2019
Redbridge Sports and Leisure Centre

U14 Competition (70 competitors)

• Thomas O’Connor – 24th
• Alex Donchev – 26th
• Josh Porter – 31st, Bronze on P-Bars
• Joel Ireland 36th

U18s

• Jasper Smith-Gordon – 5th
• James Miller – 20th

Seniors

• Jamie Lewis – 2nd (bronze on pommel, silver on rings)
• Tim McCarthy – 6th (Louis Smith Pommel Award)
• Lorenzo Carrozzo – 12th

U12s (63 Competitors)

• Oliver Porter – 27th
• Jamaal Kashim – 31st

U16s

• Christian Fuoco – 20th
• Rudi Moriano – 27th
• Charlie Rose – 39th

 
The English Championships is the first major competition in the gymnastics calendar. Woking had a strong representation with 14 boys competing across five different age groups. Friday’s competition began with the U14s, all the boys were trying new routines and will have gained valuable experience. Thomas O’Connor was the top scoring Woking Gymnast finishing in 24th place, just ahead of team mate Alex Donchev (26th). Josh Porter made some costly errors on the H-bar resulting in a 31st place finish but he was delighted to win a Bronze medal on the parallel bars. Joel Ireland was competing in his first ever English championships finishing 36th out of 70 in a tough age group. 

With Saturday morning came the turn of the U18s. James Miller (20th) had a good competition but unfortunately fell on H-Bar and Floor. Jasper Smith-Gordon put in some consistent performances without major error to finish in a very creditable 5th place.

The senior competition featured World, European and Olympic medallists, despite a couple of large mistakes Jamie Lewis proved he is up there with the best of them, finishing in second place. He also took home the bronze medal on pommels and a silver on rings. Tim McCarthy had the competition of his life and finished in a very impressive 6th place. He was also presented with the Louis Smith Pommel Award, this trophy was given for the routine with the fewest deductions on the pommel horse. Team mate Lorenzo Carrozzo was disappointed with his 12th place finish.

Oliver Porter and Jamaal Kashim competed in the U12 category on Sunday, finishing 27th and 31st respectively. In the final session of a long weekend, Christian Fuoco, Rudi Moriano and Charlie Rose took part in the U16 category. Christian was especially pleased to put out his double back on floor for the first time and finished the competition in 20th AA. Rudi (27th) and Charlie (39th – No floor or vault due to injury) were both delighted to make it through their pommel routines without falling.

The boys will all be straight back in the gym this week preparing for the upcoming British Championships.