Dedicated Portsmouth squad are on a high

THE first half of the year is always a busy one for Portsmouth Gymnastics Club with county, regional and national qualifications for gymnasts to pass their grades.
Portsmouth gymnastsPortsmouth gymnasts
Portsmouth gymnasts

The PGC women’s artistic squad saw gymnasts across all age groups and levels of grading dominate the podium.

They picked up some amazing results and director of gymnastics Samantha Maggs praised a great club effort.

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She said: ‘The success in the first part of the year has been a real testament to the team at PGC.

‘The coaches, volunteers, gymnasts and parents have worked so hard for these events.

‘To have represented across all the levels of grading and have results at them all is very reassuring the hard work is paying off.

‘The gymnasts spend so many hours in the gym, especially at the elite level and it’s great to see PGC are up there in a very fast growing and developing sport.

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‘The level of gymnastics in the country is going from strength to strength from the regional competitions to national finals and it’s great to see.’

In club grades, the PGC grade six girls took a clean sweep with Molly Evans, Alexa Sumayod, Eva Cooke and Mikayla Lawes finishing first, second, third and fourth with the ultimate clean up from 68 participants across Hampshire.

The girls later competed for the south region where they saw tougher competition but still managed second and third positions.

In grade five Lois Harris finished second overall and secured top spots with her beautiful beam and flexibility routine, while in the south region championships she was third overall.

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Grade three saw the injured Poppy McBride finish third on bars and in grade two Ella Hartwell dominated Hampshire to win the overall title with team-mate Olivia Whitcombe finishing fourth.

In the national level grades, which can see club gymnasts qualify for a British Final if they place in top five positions in the south, PGC had huge success.

In grade three, Anna Bridge stole the show with immaculate routines to finish in first position with team-mate Sienna Chantry-Jowett in second place, both making the south team for national finals. Emily Tait took the final place on team south.

After many hours in the gym and sessions out of school to perfect routines, team south took to the national stage and the team finished in second position overall with Anna Bridge crowned overall national champion in Great Britain.

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She said: ‘I was so happy to win, all my routines went really well and I was super confident I could stick my tumbles so really enjoyed doing my floor routine.’

In grade two PGC did it again with the top three positions with Emily Shears first, Claudia Garner second and Georgia Luff third.

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