The South East Regional Qualifier took place on Sunday 7th April at Guildford Spectrum. More than one hundred girls were competing throughout the day in a variety of age groups in a bid to not only to be crowned regional champion, but to receive the honor of representing the South East region at the national finals in May.

First up in Round 1 were Lily Clarke-Moss, Annabella Higgins and Isabelle Millen in Compulsory 3, alongside the up and coming Maggie Rees and Georgia Fookes in South East National 5. Lily showed good composure throughout the competition and passed the very demanding Compulsory 3 programme with just a couple of small mistakes on beam and floor, achieving a score of 52.750. A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes from her teammates, Annabella and Izzie, on bars and beam kept them off the top places, however Annabella excelled on R&C where she placed 2nd. In National 5, Maggie and Georgia hit their routines cleanly showing some impressive work with great composure and poise. Maggie came 3rd on both bars and floor on her way to an overall score of 60.550, passing her grade with distinction and narrowly missing out on a podium place, finishing 4th overall. She was followed closely by teammate Georgia who posted a score of 59.600 overall, placing her 5th and also passing her grades with flying colours.

Round 2 presented an opportunity for Stacey Mapara to compete her Compulsory 2 routines before she heads to Stoke-on-Trent to participate in the national finals next month. She showed great spirit to recover following mistakes on bars and beam but missed out on a top spot as a result.

Round 3 saw Charlotte Barnard compete in the National 3 grade. She performed excellently on her first four apparatus, including a superb beam routine that earned 2nd place. However a couple of falls on bar in the final rotation resulted in a 6th place finish overall, snatching away what would have been a very well deserved podium place.
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The final round showcased Leila Sweeney Zinman and Heidi Woodhatch at their first major competition where they competed in the Compulsory 5 grade. Both performed well and showed little sign of nerves as they hit 8 out of 10 routines cleanly between the two of them, with the only falls coming on the beam. 

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 

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.
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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.

​On Saturday 26th May the National Development plan 4 were held at Fenton Manor, Stoke -on - Trent. Representing the South East region on behalf of Woking Gymnastics Club was Lily Clarke-Moss.
Lily started her competition with a very solid routine on beam with some beautiful dance. Next piece for Lily was floor where she didn’t put a foot wrong with a very good score of 11.95. Lily finished her competition with a very precise bar routine and a respectable vault. One slip on the day was on range and conditioning where she lost a whole mark for a wrong hand placement.
Overall Lily had a great competition, onwards and upwards from here. Well done lily.

Guildford Spectrum hosted another Age Groups Finals on the weekend of 4 – 5th November. More than a hundred girls split into three age groups strived for the National Champion title.

Woking Gymnastics fielded three girls in Level 4, all part of the South East team.  In a very strong line up Farah Rothwell, Stacey Mapara and Madison Childress competed with poise and confident to end up in top 30 over all. It was 11th place for Farah Rothwell with a total of 48.850 as well as place in top 5 on Beam, 22nd for Stacey with 47.750 points and 27th place over all for Maddie with a total of 47.250 points.

It was mighty battle in the team event and the girls did not disappoint coming a very respectable 4th place, out of 12 teams, narrowly missing the podium.

Following the success earlier in the year in the Compulsory Grades (every grade is split in two parts – Compulsory Grades and Voluntary levels) girls were in a strong position to finish the season in the top 25 in their respective grades and they’ve done it once again. Farah came in 8th place in Great Britain with a combined score of 108.750 points, Maddie ended up 13th with a total of 107.600 and Stacey climbed up to 21st with a score of 105.150.

A massive well done to all the girls and their coaches and big thank you to all the parents and gymnasts who came and supported us!

Top job Team Woking!!!