Arun gymnasts shine at Sussex floor and vault extravaganza

The club’s best performance came from Molly Ireland, one of Arun’s newest members, who was competing in the ten-year-old novice girls’ category in round one.

She put together a confident floor routine that scored the highest mark and a really strong fifth-place vault that saw her placed first overall and deserved winner of the gold medal.

The other three gymnasts competing in round one for Arun were in the eight-year-old novice girls’ category. Kseniya Kagarova put in a lovely sixth-place floor and finished ninth overall, while Georgina Reynolds’ strong sixth-placed vault helped her to 11th and Olivia Hepburn finished 16th.

Round two saw Lucy Aldred keep up the good performances with an excellent third on her vault and seventh place for floor, earning her a very respectable sixth in the nine-year-old novice girls.

Betsy Baird and Amelia Rishman completed Arun’s round-two line-up and competed in the advanced ten and 11-year-old category.

In the final round, the last seven gymnasts competed and put Arun back into medal winning ways.

Connie Styles, competing at advanced girls aged eight and nine, put in two fabulous performances which saw her wonderful floor and excellent vault earn second place on both pieces and overall silver.

Chloe Golding, Caitlyn Baird and Daisy Donoghue all competed among the intermediate girls aged ten and 11.

Caitlyn and Chloe put in two great vaults to score second and third. In the overall competition Chloe finished eighth, Caitlyn 11th and Daisy 17th.

Final competitors for Arun were Katie Twine, Sian Dale and Charlotte Williamson who competed in the advanced girls 15-plus category. All three put together graceful floor routines that ended with Charlotte placed second, Sian fourth and Katie fifth.

In the vault, all three girls put in very strong performances. Sian came second, Charlotte third and Katie fourth. The consistency of the girls meant that in the overall competition Sian took silver, narrowly beating Charlotte, who took bronze, with Katie a respectable fifth.

The club’s head coach, Mandy Hawkins, is hoping the medals will lead to more successes in Olympic year.