Date: Saturday 26th November 2016 - Sunday 27th November 2016 at Lee Valley Velopark, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
Entries close: -0001-11-30
Entry ages: 9 years +
Following a season of competitive activity, six Cambridge Cangaroos trampoline gymnasts (plus one honorary member) travelled to Lea Valley Velodrome at the Olympic Park to take part in the Trampoline League Finals.
Competitors from all over the UK had competed in four qualifying events from Cardiff to South Shields and Wigan to Gillingham to achieve sufficient ranking points to qualify for these finals. Throughout the year Cangaroos had seven gymnasts compete in the qualifiers and all achieved sufficient ranking points to qualify for this prestigious competition with six there on the day.
Saturday morning beckoned and it was an early start for four of our gymnasts as warm-ups began at 8.20am. With twenty four gymnasts in each competition, it would be a long morning of competitive activity.
First to compete was Abhi Marlow-McDonald, competing in the 11-12 League 3 Mens competition. Abhi had qualified to the Finals in 10th place and was looking to make the top 8 in the preliminary rounds to achieve the competition finals on the Sunday. Two excellent routines saw Abhi leading the group after two flights of competitors.
Next up was Gabriel Strydom-Green, also competing in the 11-12 League 3 Mens competition. Gabe had qualified in 5th position. Two high scoring routines saw Gabe take 1st place after all the gymnasts had competed. Abhi’s scores placed him in 3rd and saw both our boys into the Finals on Sunday.
While Gabe was competing, sisters Trinity and Sydney Kelly were taking part in the 15-16 League 3 Ladies and 13-14 League 3 Ladies competitions. Trinity had qualified in joint 1st following the qualifiers, while Sydney had qualified in 5th place. Two of her best routines of the season saw Trinity qualify to the Finals on Sunday in 1st place. Sydney also performed well and qualified for the finals in 6th place.
The morning ended extremely successfully for the club and although our coaches had run ragged supporting the gymnasts throughout the competition it had been a very encouraging morning. Luis Pires was next to compete in the 19+ League 2 Mens competition. Luis had come out of retirement to compete this season and after qualifying to the final in 9th position was hoping to qualify for the top 8 finals. An excellent set of routines saw Luis into 1st place after the preliminary rounds and qualification to the finals.
Last to compete was Zach Goggin and James Able (honorary Cangaroo), in the 15-16 League 1 Mens competition. James had qualified in 11th place and Zach in 10th. Unfortunately Matt Burson, who had qualified in 1st place had withdrawn through injury.
James produced his best routines of the season and also his highest difficulty tariff to qualify for the finals in 6th place. Unfortunately, an error from Zach in his first routine meant that he was placed 9th after both routines and just missed out on the final.
So we finished the day with six finalists, with 3 in 1st place, one in 3rd place and two in 6th place. Cangaroos best ever results at the League Finals and we looked forward to further success on day two.
Day two started later as our gymnasts watched the disability gymnasts and the synchro pairs take to the competition floor. First up on Sunday was Luis Pires, competing last as the finals are bounced in reverse order, the pressure was on Luis to pull out all the stops as his fellow competitors all improved on their scores from the previous day. An improved score wasn’t quite enough to achieve a medal and Luis finished in 4th place just 0.05 outside of a bronze medal place. Next up were Abhi and Gabe; again, an improvement from all the gymnasts in the final put pressure on our boys. Both improved their scores from the qualifying rounds and Gabriel took bronze and Abhi narrowly missed 1st place to take Silver by just 0.1.
Sydney was next to compete and improved her scores on the previous day, but a strong showing from her fellow competitors saw her take 7th place in a very tight group. Trinity was also in a very competitive group and with only 0.3 separating the top 3 gymnasts, Trinity achieved a fantastic bronze medal.
Last to compete was James Able, laying in 6th in his first ever League 1 final, the odds were against him medalling. A good routine saw him compete well but eventually he ended up in 6th place. A great showing for the young man.
Fifty one clubs competed in the Finals and when the scores were added together, Cangaroos were placed 10th overall. A fantastic achievement for the club, given the number of gymnasts we had entering.
The 2016 season ends for Cangaroos when our annual Club competition takes place on 10th December at Cambridge Regional College where many of our members will compete for honours including our coaches taking part in the Ego Cup and our synchro pairs competing not only for the best synchronised routine, but also the best costumes. So, congratulations to Abhi, Gabe, Trinity, Luis, Sydney, Zach and James for their fabulous results and as always, a huge thank you to our officials and coaches, without whom we couldn’t take part in this or any similar event.