Southern region joy for Portsmouth boys

The Alex Way centre played host to the competition for the third year running as they have the most up to date, high-standard apparatus anywhere in the south.

With 15 of the boys squad entered into the championships the host club were very well represented.

Between them they picked up a fantastic total of 21 individual titles.

Coach Adam Paterson was pleased with the outcome of the championships.

He said: ‘It has been another great regional championships for our boys’ team.

‘We had many medals won and many new skills performed.

‘Everyone at the centre should also be proud of putting on a great event.’

Newcomers Wilf Jackson (11th), Leighton Critchett (ninth) and Jude Moore (third) all competed well in their first regional level competition.

Individual medals included Wilf taking the silver for his excellent high bar routine, Leighton securing bronze for a strong handspring vault and Jude winning the golds on floor and pommel horse, as well as sharing the bronze on vault and silver on high bar to accompany his all around bronze.

In the under-nine age group Isaiah Lewis-Powell dominated his age group, taking gold on every apparatus except parallel bars where he took silver.

It was a stunning performance from Isaiah as he became PGC’s first regional champion for 2017.

Faris Akhtar (sixth), Samuel Owen (16th) and John Leeming (18th) all competed well in the under-10 age group. These boys achieved top-10 finishes across all six apparatus.

Three boys from PGC entered into the under-12 development age group.

James Carmichael had a great competition to take all-around bronze, with silver on vault and gold for a near-perfect routine on parallel bars.

Louie Knowles (ninth all around) added a silver to his medal collection for a good vault, while Dylan Harris (13th all around) took gold and became regional champion on vault.

At national under-12 level Connor Sullivan took silver all around as well as silver on floor and rings, bronze on pommel and gold on vault, parallel bars and high bar.

Team-mates Felix Coomber and Joshua Windebank showed their skills as they stepped up to national under-14 level.

Joshua finished eighth and Felix was sixth. Felix won double gold with top performances on floor and vault.

At national under-16 level Kurtis Stanley took bronze on parallel bars, silver for a great floor routine and gold with his high-difficulty rings routine.

Jack Helps again retained his regional title, winning gold all around, while adding bronze on rings, silver on high bar and gold medals on floor, pommel, vault and parallel bars.

This completed a total medal haul of 38 for PGC’s male gymnasts.