The annual regional advanced competition took place on Sunday 30th September at Guildford spectrum. 140 gymnasts from across the South East came to compete on floor and vault, all aiming to become regional champion and achieve the qualifying score of 16.00 to move into the bronze level category.

In round one Woking had 11 gymnasts entered. In the Boys 2008 category we had 2 gymnasts competing, Jack Dadswell began with two very powerful vaults achieving a score of 6.95 and after some minor errors with his floor routine he placed a respectable 5th. Charles Dadswell performed well on vault and after some hesitations produced a stylish floor routine to put him slightly ahead of his brother and into 4th place.

In the Girls 2006 competition Esme Finch started the competition off with two handsprings on vault, on floor she did very well to complete the full routine and finish a credible 13th. Team mate Arabella Wilson performed two beautiful vaults to achieve a score of 7.35 and with minimal practice of her floor routine finished in 10th. Laura Kersley had a very strong competition, she displayed excellent vaults to achieve 7.50 which was the highest vault score of the group, with a very tidy floor routine to finish she picked up the bronze medal placing 3rd.

Our final group for round one were the Girls 2008, we had 6 gymnasts entered. Amani Ali had some problems on vault but quickly put these behind her to perform a strong routine on floor and finish in 13th. Brogan Barrott did very well complete her competition after a recent injury and place in 12th.  Tegan Fookes showed massive improvement on her floor routine to achieve a score of 8.25, and after performing a handspring vault for the first time at competition placed 10th. Matilda Swift displayed her new floor routine to place in 6th, slightly ahead was Elenor Pearson who made her regional debut and placed in 4th position. To complete the group Olivia Kraus’ practice paid off as she showed a very elegant floor routine to place top of the group in 1st and become regional champion. Olivia also achieved a score of 16.10 to qualify for bronze level.
 
Woking had just 2 gymnasts competing in round two, both competing in the regional advanced competition for the first time. Poppy Davies and Eleanor Whitacker competed in the Girls 2007 category. With a tough time in warm up Poppy manged to compete two handspring vaults, she then performed her brand new floor routine with confidence to place in 11th. Elenor showed power on vault and after lots of nerves got through her floor routine to place in 13th. Both girls should be very proud of their performances and take the experience gained onto future competitions.
 
Although it may not have been our strongest competition, we will continue to use the experience and build on it for next time, all of the gymnasts who participated in the competition should be proud of themselves and their performances. Also a big thank you to the coaches and judges who assisted the gymnasts at the competition. 

On Sunday 23rd September Woking sent 14 boys to Pegasus GC to try and gain a place representing the South East at this year’s Grades Finals to be held in Birmingham.
In the morning session Woking’s younger boys took to the floor, in the U8 Pre Elite Level 1 age group James Fricker competed and scored 34.1 placing him 4th, as he is a pre level 1 James could not qualify for the finals but can now see what he needs to work on for next year.

The Elite Level 1 competition qualifies for 2 team, the top 6 will make the Elite team, and the next 6 will make the Cub team. 6 Woking boys competed in the biggest age group of the day, Jake Palmer finished 1st with 2 perfect 10s on the pommel and vault and scored 66.95 all round. In 2nd place with only a 0.25 difference in score was Ben Porter his score of 66.7 also included a perfect 10 on vault. Harrison Lamble finished 6th with a score of 60.7. Jake Ben and Harrison have all made the Elite level 1 team. Jay Coote finished 11th with 57.6 and secured his place in the Club team. Hayden Blackmun and Max Veo-Creek 13th and 15th with their scores of 55.2 and 52.35 but unfortunately these were not high enough to make either team.
 
In the afternoon Woking had boys represented in 4 different categories. Oliver Porter and Jamaal Kashim were in Elite level 3 and both took a place in the team, Oliver finished 1st with 62.95 and Jamaal 3rd with 52.75. Oliver and Jamaal will go to finals and try to help their team win gold for the 3rd year running.

The Elite Level 4 is a Woking only Team with Alex Donchev taking 1st place with 55.665, Tom O’Connor was 2nd with 53.283 and Santo Fuoco scored 49.7 and finished 3rd, all 3 boys will be working hard to increase their scores for the finals especially on Pommel Horse.

Joshua Porter gained his place in the Elite Level 5 Team for the finals, He came 1st with a score of 55.325. Josh has been working hard and will hope to carry this on towards the finals.
Joel Ireland came 1st in the Club Level 5 category and took his spot in the finals with a score of 59. Joel showed significant improvements in this competition and will be hoping to show even more improvements by the finals.

With a Total of 11 boys making the Grades Finals, Woking was the most successful club in the Region. This contributed to Woking GC winning the Presidents Trophy! The scores from this competition and the Regional Voluntaries from earlier in the year combined make up the final score for the Presidents Trophy, Woking finished with a score of 849.63 nearly 200 points above 2nd place.
​
Well done to all the boys and coaches and good luck for the finals in November.

Guildford Spectrum hosted another South East Voluntary Championship on the weekend of 8 – 9th September, where more than 200 girls from across the region gets together to battle for the regional titles as well as to define who will be honoured to represent the SE Region in the upcoming Age Groups National Finals later on in November.

First up on Saturday was our very own rising star Maggie Rees. Difficult and classy work throughout the competition with a couple of unfortunate mistakes and a total of 37.050 points.

Next up on Sunday in the first round were our amazing Level 3 team – Farah Rothwell, Tomi Dada, Stacey Mapara, Lily Clarke-Moss and Charlotte Barnard. Dashing Floor routines from all the girls to start with followed by powerful Vaults, where Farah posted the highest score of the day – 13.500 points, Bars where girls showed some updates and last but not least Beam, where girls held their nerves with Tomi, Charlotte and Lily producing clean routines and finishing in top 6.
 
It’s safe to say that at the end  Woking GC owned the podium in Level 3 with Farah winning the All Around title with a total of 47.050 as well as taking home three more apparatus title – Vault, Bars and Floor and Tomi taking Silver on Beam.

Elsewhere Tomi and Stacey shared the very creditable 7th place in the All Around competition in a very strong line up with total of 42.625 points with Lily closely behind them with a score of 42.350 points and very well deserved 3rd place in the Team Event.

Last but definitely not least were Sienna Neep and Annabella Higgins in Round 7...Yes it was a rather packed competition! Clean, confident and difficult work from Sienna across all four pieces, especially Beam where she posted the highest Start Score of 3.1 points and ended up 5th despite a minor mistake, and 12th place Over All with a score of 41.750 points.

When it comes to combining difficulty and elegance look no further than our very own star -Annabella Higgins.  In a mighty line up in Level 4 she performed with confidence and poise to come 4th Over All narrowly missing podium place but qualifying for National Finals and winning the Beam title with an impressive score of 12.550 points, which was the highest score on Beam across all levels.
​
To top up a fantastic competition year Woking Gymnastics Club was awarded with The President’s award for Women’s Artistic Excellence from South East Region for best club across Level 4 and Level 3.

This historic and prestigious event served as a selection event for the upcoming World Championships and was attended by all the top clubs from across the country and international gymnasts from Finland and Australia. Woking had a strong entry of twenty four gymnasts across six age groups.

The competition started well with our Elite Level 1 gymnasts. Our team of Jake Palmer, Ben Porter, Hayden Blackmun, Harrison Lamble, Jay Coote and Max Veo-Creek, performed well in a very strong field. Max (45.200, 35th), Jay (47.000, 32nd), Harrison (48.400, 27th) and Hayden (48.700, 23rd) have improved greatly in the last twelve months and it will be a closely fought competition in the upcoming grades qualifier. There was a one-two for Woking; Jake Palmer took the AA title with 55.700, just ahead of team mate Ben Porter (55.050). Ben looked classy and stylish as he took home the gold medal on Floor, Vault and P-Bars, along with a bronze medal on H-Bar. While Jake scored a perfect 10 on Pommels and won a bronze medal on the rings.

There was more success in the Elite Level 3 Competition, where Oliver Porter produced some stunning performances, to win gold on the Rings and P-Bars, he added a bronze on H-Bar and despite falling on Pommels, scored well enough to take home the AA title with a score of 53.601. Jamaal Kashim held his own to finish 9th (44.443), with a little more confidence he will surely prove to be an important team player in the national finals.

The Elite Level 4 competition was full of ups and downs. Santo Fuoco didn’t have his best day but did score well enough to take home a silver medal on Floor, his all-around total of 38.268 put him in 7th. Thomas O’Connor won Gold on H-bar and Bronze on P-bars, he counted a few falls but still finished 5th AA (44.943).

The main event of the weekend was the Westminster Cup. In a field of Olympic, World and European medallists, Woking has two competitors. Tim McCarthy suffered a small injury in podium training and was only able to compete on four apparatus. His top score was 12.750 on P-Bars. Jamie Lewis was competing in his first senior competition since winning five medals at the Junior European Championships. He competed on the pommel horse, putting out an upgraded routine but did not get his dismount credited. He finished 6th with 13.250.

Sunday morning saw Christian Fuoco, Charlie Rose, Rudi Moriano, Laurence Butler, Josh Porter and Joel Ireland compete in the Max Whitlock Competition. Despite falling three times Josh was the highest placed Woking gymnast (64.600, 21st), Laurence was 26th (63.550) just ahead of Joel who went 6 for 6. Rudi scored 62.067 (32nd) with Christian in 34th (60.000). Charlie competed just five apparatus scoring 47.634.

The final competition was the Peter Moore Competition. Lorenzo Carrozzo and Jasper Smith-Gordon were competing on their 18th and 16th birthdays respectively. Lorenzo was disappointed to miss his Kovacs on H-Bar, but still managed to finish 5th AA (73.350), impressing the judges and picking up a bronze medal on Rings and a silver on Pommels. Jasper was 8th AA (72.400), the highlight of his competition was undoubtedly his new Vault which he stuck to score a world-class 14.750. Fraser Griffiths was 19th AA (69.700), with James Miller in 26th (66.300).
​
It was a great weekend for the Boys Squad, demonstrating our strength across the age ranges. Well done to all the Gymnasts and Coaches.