Gymnasts take country by storm

4:38pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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KING Edmund Gym Club's prodigious talents have taken the country by storm in their latest Acro Gymnastic outings.

Hot on the heels of successful appearances in the South West Preliminary and British championships, Yate-based King Edmund GC sent a sizeable squad of gymnasts north to a friendly competition in Yorkshire - and returned home delighted by the performances of their aspiring proteges.

Leading the way were Shanie-Redd Thorne and Kaman Mitchell, performing together for the first time and thrilled to be awarded marks of 9.5, 9.4 and 9.4 for their technical displays and 9.1, 9.2 and 9.2 for their artistry.

Mitchell, twice a runner-up at the European Championships, was springing back to the Acro Gymnastics circuit in style after announcing his retirement.

Thorne is the daughter of proud King Edmund coach Nikki Thorne, who glowed: "We didn't know what to expect as this was a brand-new scenario to both of them and they were absolutely amazing; they had the whole place talking about their performances.

"It is very unusual in this country to be given marks in the nines' for artistry, so they obviously impressed the judges and they certainly impressed us!"

Thorne and Mitchell, who topped the 11-16 mixed pairs category, were far from alone in succeeding in the Barnsley-based event. Slaney Mitchell, Hannah West and Abi Hipkiss emerged as champions in the grade 1 trio; Keely Roberts and Maisey Hannam took second spot in the women's pairs grade two section, while Christopher Childs and Beth Nolder finished first in the grade three mixed pairs event.

Maiken Thorne, another of Nikki's fast-emerging daughters, and Molly Grehan took the honours in the junior women's pairs and Tayler Porter and Georgina King celebrated a runners-up place.

Douglas Fordyce and Tasha Lawrence won the junior mixed pairs section, closely followed by club comrades Christopher Rogers and Hannah Palmer, who pushed the victors all the way to clinch second spot.

Also competing for the club were junior women's trio Charley Marr, Shelley Evans and Michaela Jones, and men's four Oliver Wright, Barnaby Llewellyn, Chester Wilmott and Danny Bates, who were among a clutch of eight triumphant King Edmund club members at the recent British Championships in Stoke.

As for the successful showing at the South West Preliminaries, seven-year-old Scarlet Strachan-Wills and her partner Rhia Clark, led the way ahead of second-placed team-mates Rachel Childs and Molly Grehan.

The up-and-coming King Edmund's starlets stole the show in the Thornbury Leisure Centre-based competition by securing the first five places in the Prep A women's pairs.

The club are now focusing on World Championship qualifying trials to be held at Lilleshall on June 12 and 13, where junior women's duo Maiken Thorne and Molly Grehan play a starring role with hopes high for them in the championships proper in Glasgow this October.