Bath Takes Ten Medals From British Open Apparatus Championships

Burton on Trent 12/13 May 2007

Bath Rhythmic Club enjoyed another very successful competition at Burton on Trent on 16 and 17 May, coming home with a grand total of ten medals. The competition was the British Open Individual Apparatus Championships – the second most important competition in the British rhythmic gymnastics calendar after the British Championships in November.

Six girls from Bath were entered for the two day event: Frankie Fox, Lynne Hutchison, Evie Longshaw, Marnie Calwell, Sarah Dennis and Caitlin Brennan. All the girls performed really well and club coaches Sarah and Sandra were very pleased with the results.

Sarah and Caitlin were in action on the Saturday. It was their first time at a national individual competition, but they showed no nerves and went on the floor with a lot of confidence as they competed in the Under 10 Rope and Hoop. Rope is a difficult apparatus to master so they both had some fumbles, but Caitlin came 10th and Sarah 14th . In Hoop Caitlin was 8th and Sarah 14th. These were very good placings against far more experienced girls.

Later in the day Frankie performed stunning routines in the Junior Hoop, Ball and Ribbon gaining gold for all three pieces. Her ball routine in particular was exceptional and wowed the audience and judges alike, but some unfortunate drops in her rope routine meant she missed out on a clean sweep of the gold medals and had to settle for silver.

The Sunday saw Lynne returning in her first individual competition since a serious illness last autumn. Competing in the Under 13 section, she showed great determination and hunger for the sport. She gained a silver with a brilliant ribbon routine as well as bronzes in Rope, Ball and Hoop - all performed with her usual vitality and dynamism.

Marnie Calwell also gained two well deserved medals in the Under 12 section - a silver for a lovely routine in the Ball and bronze for her and fast, difficult and cheeky Clubs routine.

In the same section, Evie Longshaw showed the result of hard work and solid routines to improve on her position from last year. She came 8th in Ball and 9th in Clubs - both very creditable performances.

So a big “Well done” to everyone for maintaining the high standards of the club and making it another successful competition for Bath!

Full results of the competition at the results section of the BG website.