Date: Saturday 29th April 2017 - Sunday 30th April 2017 at University of Nottingham
Entries close: 2017-03-17
Entry ages: 9 years +
Cambridge Cangaroo’s took 4 gymnasts to Nottingham on 30th April to compete in the first National Development Pathway Qualifying event, where they competed against gymnasts for podium positions and more importantly qualifying scores to gain a place in the NDP finals in July.
First up was Abhi MacDonald-Marlow, competing in the boys 11-12 age group. This was Abhi’s first time competing at this level and controlled his nerves excellently to perform 3 solid routines. Although he did not hit the qualifying scores, he managed to finish in 4th place with some very respectable scores for his first outing.
Next was James Able and Zach Goggin, competing in the 15-16 group. Zach completed 3 solid routines, but unfortunately was unable to attain the qualifying scores and finished in 8th place. Similarly, James completed 3 good routines, with 2 out of the 3 attaining the qualifying score, but his set was 0.7 points short and saw him finish in 5th place. The standards expected on the day were high, with only 1 person qualifying from 12 gymnasts.
Final competitor was Matt Burson, competing in 17-18 age group for the first time with an increased tariff requirement of 9.5 in the voluntary, compared to 8.5 for 15-16. After a mistake in the set routine, Matt demonstrated ability to complete the routine, missing the qualifying score by just 0.1! But went on to demonstrate his capability by scoring almost a whole mark above the requirement for the 2nd and 3rd routine.
The boys have a further chance to qualify on 4th June and are working hard to optimise the training time between now and then.