On the 30th and 31st of July the Liverpool Echo Arena was host to the British TeamGym Championships as part of the week long British Gymnastics Championship Series. The Liverpool Albert Dock was alive with gymnasts from all over the country competing in TeamGym, Rhythmic, Sports Acrobatics and Aerobics.
Bracknell Gymnastics Club had 5 teams qualified for the competition.
The Saturday was the British Championships. Bracknell's Youth Women's team (9-14) came 6th in very competitive section. However, the girls rose to the challenge, even coming in 2nd on the floor programme.
Bracknell's Junior Women came 2nd in 2015 and went into the event as the favourites from qualification. They dominated on all pieces to win the British title for the first time with the highest floor score of the entire event.
The Bracknell Senior Men were the last to compete. Despite some injuries in the lead up to the event they retained their British title with the highest score of the entire event on trampette and joint highest with Reddam Senior Mixed team on Tumble. The event closed with the boys' trampette routine which saw 18 year old Connor Wharram land the UK's first triple piked somersault with half twist in competition.
The Sunday was the challenge event which started with the Micro Teams (3-5 gymnasts on tumble and trampette only). Bracknell's Junior team won the silver in a well contested section against the mightly Scottish team from Forth Valley. Although the Bracknell juniors managed to pip the Scottish on tumble, their trampette was inevitably too strong on this occasion.
The final event of the weekend was the Primary Challenge. The Bracknell Starlings made a good account of themselves, finishing 7th overall but achieving a 4th on floor.
The coaching team of Chris Bennett, Lewis Jones, Claire Wright and James Langley are very pleased with the performances of all of the gymnasts and are looking forward to next year's British Championships.
