Date: Saturday 25th June 2016 - Sunday 26th June 2016 at Sports Wales National Centre
Entries close: -0001-11-30
Entry ages: 9 years +
It was a long old drive for the Cangaroos team for the League 2 event held in Cardiff at the Welsh National Institute for Sport at the weekend. Tony and Luis were there for the Saturday and Sunday to support our gymnasts on both days of the event.
On Saturday, Aaliyah Kinnley, Sydney Kelly and Trinity Kelly were taking part, with Aaliyah and Sydney in the League 3 – 13-14 Female event and Trinity in the League 3 – 15-16 Female event. Both groups had the largest ever entries at a trampoline competition in the UK with 72 entries for the 13-14 years group (61 competed) and 62 entries (and competitors) in the 15-16 group. This meant it took a long time to determine the finalists as the flights ran all day.
First up in Flight 1 was Aaliyah, who after excellent performances at the League 1 event was looking to do even better. Two very solid routines saw her in 3rd place after flight 1 and 9th after flight 2. However, three very strong flights remained and she ended up with a very creditable 29th place. Sydney was next up and after a fantastic 1st routine was leading the field. However, she went wrong on the 2nd skill of her routine and landed on the mat, this unfortunately meant she ended up in 58th position.
Next up was Trinity, who produced 2 high scoring routines in the first two rounds and was leading going into the top 8 finals. This secured her 100 ranking points towards the National Finals. An excellent final routine ensured the Gold medal was hers with an impressive score of 43.015.
Later in the day, Abhi Marlow-McDonald and Gabriel Strydom-Green competed in the League 3 – 11-12 Male competition. Following their success at the recent Regional Team Finals, both boys were hopeful of securing high places. Two excellent rounds from Gabe saw him reach the final in 1st place with 100 ranking points. Unfortunately, after a great set, Abhi also clipped the end mat, this put him in 9th place, but as he didn’t finish his routine, he received no ranking points. Gabe went on to consolidate his place and take the Gold medal with a score of 42.305.
That ended day 1 of the competition for Cangaroos and the long trip back for the girls was underway. Meanwhile Tony and Luis braved the streets of Cardiff for dinner, a celebratory mood was hanging over the city after the success in the football earlier in the evening.
With Zach Goggin and Matthew Burson competing in the League 1 – 15-16 Male in the morning, it was an early start for the Cangaroos team. Both boys were competing at this level for the 1st time, having competed in League 2 last season and missed the 1st League event earlier this year. I was good to gauge their standing at this level of national competition.
Both were competing in the same flight and two solid routines from both boys saw Matthew in 2nd place after the first two rounds and Zach in 5th. This secured 75 ranking points for Matthew and 36 ranking points for Zach. Following the final, the boys retained their positions and Matthew took the silver medal with a score of 46.725 and Zach returned a final score of 43.285. A great result from both boys.
The last competition of the day was the SuperLeague 15+ male. This was the first time that Matt had competed at this level, bouncing against some of the very best men in the country. It was also one of the largest of entries he had competed at for a long time with 23 gymnasts taking part in the competition. After two excellent routines, Matt finished the 1st flight in 2nd place. By the end of the 2nd flight he was in 5th place and had secured 40 ranking points and made his first ever final. A high quality routine saw him take a well-deserved 5th place with a final score of 47.805.
And that was it for the weekend. Cangaroos came away with two gold medals and a silver and a clutch of ranking points. We look forward to the National Finals in two weeks’ time in Telford where Gabe, Abhi, Sydney and Matt will all be vying to become British Champions in their age group and level. The 3rd League event takes place on the weekend of 17th & 18th September in South Shields where we hope for more success.