International Centre, Telford – 1st-3rd March 2024
Telford International Centre hosted once again one of the most prestigious competitions of the domestic calendar – The English Championship 2024. Being a qualifier for the coveted British Championship as well as the first trial event for the Olympic Games it was set to be a spectacular one…and it didn’t disappoint.
The competition began with the WAG aspire competition, where WGC was represented by Kimberley Ly. Despite the shaky start on Beam, Kimmie picked herself up to produce beautiful floor routine, solid vault and good bar routine to collect a total of 39.05 points.
Next up was the MAG U16 competition, Woking’s team of Ben Porter, Jay Coote, Max Veo-Creek and Rio Chandiram were all competed upgraded routines. Ben finished 9th AA with an amazing H-bar routine that lost just 0.55! Jay did very well to catch his first release and catch on H-Bar and continue his competition despite getting a huge rip on his hand. Jay successfully performed one of the hardest floor routines in the competition and was awarded a brilliant silver medal for his performance on the vault. Max was delighted to land his double back off P-bars for the first time, he finished the competition in 26th place. Rio had a clean competition narrowly missing out on a medal on pommels and finishing in 18th place AA.
Saturday morning began with the MAG U18 competition. Luke Everett was competing in his first competition for Woking, two years since his last outing. He showed the improvements he has made catching his Tkatchev on H-Bar and performing a double back somersault on the floor. He finished in 23rd. Also competing in the U18s was Oliver Porter. Oli had a great competition, he showed composure and maturity as he performed clean routines on every apparatus. Oli finished in 6th place AA with a PB of 74.00, placing within the top 10 on five apparatus and winning a silver medal on P-bars.
Lily competed in the WAG Senior competition alongside European, World and Olympic medallists. She held her nerves on beam to produce a clean routine, followed by floor, where despite a small mistake on one of her tumbles she showed poise and grace and finishing on bars wowing the judges with some of her releases. A total of 43.80 points over all and gaining some fantastic experience in her first year as a senior!
The showpiece event of the weekend was the MAG senior competition. In a field containing world and Olympic champions, Josh Porter and Joel Ireland were fortunate enough to go around the competition with Team GB’s Jake Jarman and Carlos Yulo from the Philippines. Not phased by the high calibre of gymnastics on show, Josh held his own competing six clean routines placing 18th AA with a top ten finish on H-Bar. Joel impressed other competitors with his Jaegar on H-Bar and battled hard through his pommel and rings routines to finish 30th.
Sunday morning began with the MAG U12 competition. Fionn Kelly, Declan Freeman and William Middleton were competing at their first English Championships. Due to a wrist injury, Fionn competed on just four apparatus with his highest score coming on Floor where his 12.20 placed in 19th spot. Declan Freeman had an unfortunate slip in the warm-up but bravely decided to carry on with the competition, despite errors on H-Bar he finished well placing 43rd AA. William gained lots of experience debuting double back off rings and piked Tsukahara on vault, as a first year U12 he should be proud of his 33rd place finish. Mac Griffiths was Woking’s top performer finishing 31st AA with a score of 61.75.
Despite the tough draw starting on beam, Maggie Rees and her teammate Annabella Higgins, who was competing as a guest, showed composure and sailed through with some minor mistakes. On floor Maggie showed an exquisite work earning her a score of 11.550 and Annabella displayed her natural elegance and poise. Solid vaults from both girls with some great scores to much their effort and good bars’ routines to finish. Annabella was rewarded with a total AA score of 41.050 points for her effort and Maggie hit another PB AA score of 43.550 points finishing 34th out of 93 gymnasts.
The long weekend concluded with the MAG U14 competition. Caden O’Shea had a tough day at the office but persevered to finish 47th.
For the MAG and WAG gymnasts this was a qualifier for the British Championships, well done to Josh, Oli, Ben, Rio, Jay & Max who have earned a spot at next weekend’s competition in Liverpool and will be join by our WAG gymnast – Kimberly Ly. Great job from all the gymnasts and coaching team! Good luck in Liverpool!
