Competition Write-Ups

4th Basingstoke Invitational 2010

Sunday June 6^th 2010 saw over 80 adults from all over the country turn up at the Active Life Centre to take part in the 4^th Basingstoke Adult Invitational gymnastics competition. Unfortunately due to holiday commitments and injuries, the Basingstoke Adult Squad had reduced numbers entering, but still the team managed to put on a good show.

The Competition commenced with David Cahill competing in the Over 18 Mens Artistic Recreational section. This was the biggest mens group ever seen at this competition and David put in a good all-round effort to end up in 5^th place. This was then followed by the Acrobatics section. Basingstoke entered a Womens Pair of Lisa Butler and Louise Palmer and a Womens Trio of Lisa, Louise and Tracy Rickards. Despite really tough competition from Woking, Loughborough and West Street, both the Pair and the Trio performed solid and clean routines to be awarded the gold medal in both groups. Lisa also competed in the Tumbling section of the competition. She performed two good runs to come away with the silver medal.

The afternoon session saw the Womens Artistic section. Basingstoke had three entries: Lisa Butler, Louise Palmer and Natalie Bond. All competed in the Over 18 Intermediate competition. It was a closely fought competition for the biggest group of the day and even though she had a disaster on the Beam, Lisa performed exceptionally on all her other pieces to earn herself the gold. Natalie was taking part in her first adult competition, and had a great day taking the silver medal. Although carrying a couple of injuries, Louise put in a good performance to end up in a creditable 4^th place.

The Adult Squad are now all training hard for the British Veterans Championships that will take place later in the year.

21st British Veterans Championships 2008

This year Basingstoke was represented by nine of it's adults at the Veterans competition. Steve Bond was the only male artistic representative this year, he took on a hard fought battle and was rewarded with the silver medal in the Mens Over 40 Recreational section.

The Womens artistic section took on a new role: for the first time an Intermediate section was introduced and we had four gymnasts entered in it. Natalie Williams, Kirsten Venn, Lisa Butler and Louise Palmer all put in a good showing throughout the competition, despite many injuries and tough judging decisions. Jazmine Elbrow was the sole representative in the Beginner section. For her first National competition she performed extremely well and ended up in a creditable 7th place. In the Former section Basingstoke again only had one gymnast entered: Tracy Rickards. Knowing she was up against some tough opposition, she put in a good all round showing to be placed 6th. To top off the day's good efforts, in the team competition the mixed team had a pleasant surprise when they were awarded the silver medal.

This year for the first time, Basingstoke entered two pairs in the Acrobatic Gymnastics section. The mixed pair of Ronny Brownhill and Steve Bond performed a good routine, despite the lack of practise time they had had, to come away with the gold medal. In the womens pairs, Claire Williams and Tracy Rickards had a disasterous start to their routine, but picked themselves up well to earn themselves the bronze.

Two gymnasts also entered the tumbling competition. Lisa Butler came up against some stiff competition in the Formers section and was placed 9th. Ronny Brownhill entered the beginners section, having never competed this event before, and earned herself the gold medal.

Well done to all who took part and we can now look forward to next year's events.

5th Glasgow Open Competition 2008

Sunday March 30th 2008 saw four of our Adult gymnasts travel to Glasgow for the 5th Glasgow Open.

Natalie Williams, Kelly Hurd and Sarah Stagg competed in the Over 17 Beginners section. This was Kelly and Sarah's first Adult competition. Sarah got over her nerves and put in a solid all round performance to come in a creditable 8th. Kelly was a guest in this competition as she was just too young to compete in the age group. Her vault was superb and she included a round-off flic in her floor routine for the first time. Both these gymnasts now have a new goal to reach for the next competition in June.

Natalie gave the best showing of the day. She continued her medal winning performace which she started last year in Glasgow, to win the gold medal in the section.

The only gymnast from Basingstoke competing in the Formers section was Tracy Rickards. The over 30's section was tough this year, with gymnasts from Wetherby, Inverness and Beacon to compete against. After having no falls on beam, and a vault that had minimal faults, Tracy put in her best performance since coming back from injury to earn herself the Bronze medal.

With their next competition coming up on June 8th, Basingstoke's adults are hoping that their fellow team members can come back from illness and injury to put on a good show on home turf.

A special thanks goes to Steve Williams and Power Quest for the use of their song "Well of Souls" as floor music.

20th British Veterans Competition 2007

The 20th British Veterans Gymnastics Championships were held on Saturday September 22nd at Pipers Vale Gymnastics Club in Ipswich. Eight Adult gymnasts from Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, coached by Paul Rickards, Tracy Rickards and Alex Campbell, travelled to East Anglia to take part in the biggest event of the year, in the Adult Gymnastics calendar. Due to the numbers of competitors at this year’s event, registration for the Recreational competition was at 9am, a bit of a shock to some of the adults who wouldn’t be getting their Saturday morning lie-in!!

The Women’s Over 18 Recreational section was the largest of the day. Basingstoke had four gymnasts in this section Nikki Brecht, Sophie Thomas, Kirsten Venn and Natalie Williams. Natalie gave a solid all round performance, with an average score of 12 and over on her top three pieces. She was awarded with the Bronze medal for her efforts. Nikki’s hand had ripped during training on the A Bars the previous week and was extremely painful throughout the whole competition. Kirsten only joined the Adult Class during August after having a break from gymnastic for ten years. She had been persuaded to come back to the gym by Natalie and her superb floor exercise made it look like she had never left. Both Nikki and Kirsten performed extremely well and were placed 5th and 6th respectively. Sophie was still suffering from a foot injury incurred earlier in the year, but she was still determined to give it a go. For the first time in a competition she performed a front somersault dismount off the beam and with her notable floor exercise she earned herself a respectable 18th place. Sophie also competed in the Over 18 Recreational Trampolining competition where she gave two good routines to see her end up in 4th place.

Two other adult gymnasts competed in the Recreational competition: Heather Seaborne in the Women’s Over 30 section and Steve Bond in the Men’s Over 40 section. After being pipped to the post into 4th place at last year’s competition, Heather has worked extremely hard over the last few months and has put together a new floor routine for the occasion. This year her training paid off and she was awarded the Silver medal. For the first time in four years of entering this competition, Steve had some opposition. The scores were very tight after three pieces, after an unfortunate fall from his front somersault on the floor. As the only Over 40 competing on the High Bar, Steve pulled out all the stops and, including a new move for this year, performed an outstanding routine to earn himself the Silver medal.

Basingstoke entered two gymnasts in the harder Formers Section of the competition. This is for gymnasts who competed at a Regional level or above when they were younger or those who feel that they are capable of entering the harder level of competition. Claire Williams competed in the Women’s Over 18 section and Tracy Rickards entered the Women’s Over 30 section. It was Claire’s first Veterans competition after having retired two years ago from international Team Gym. Following a bad landing on her first Vault run, she took up the challenge and gave a spotless Floor routine to earn herself a very creditable 4th place. Having moved up to the Over 30 section this year, Tracy faced the daunting task of a different level of opposition. Having had to withdraw from last year’s competition with a knee injury three days before the competition, she was determined to not let it stop her. Following a good Vault and a new Floor exercise at the end of the day she was placed 8th.

There was also a team event run alongside the individual competition. Basingstoke entered two Women’s teams: the Basingstoke Belles – Nikki Brecht, Tracy Rickards, Claire Williams and Natalie Williams; and All Fired Up – Heather Seaborne, Sophie Thomas and Kirsten Venn. Their main competition for the team title were the ladies from Glasgow, but at the final showing Basingstoke won through. All Fired Up were awarded the Bronze, while the Gold medal and title of Women’s Team Champions 2007 went to the Basingstoke Belles.

Everyone enjoyed the day, even though it was a long one, finishing at 7pm in the evening. The coaches would like to thank all the competitors for their efforts in giving Basingstoke Gymnastics Club another good year at the British Veterans Competition and for helping to put Adult Gymnastics well and truly on the map.

Check out the Photo Gallery and Team Successes Pages for more...

18th British Veterans Competition 2005

On 17 September 2005 Basingstoke Gymnastic Club's adult gymnasts were once again represented at the British Gymnastics Veterans Championships held at Pipers Vale Gymnastics Centre in Ipswich. With the pressure on to improve on the Gold and Silver medals won last year, the team certainly did not disappoint - returning triumphantly with 4 Gold medals and one Silver.

Emily McCullouch won the Gold medal in both the recreational women's over 20's and tumbling competitions. Having only returned to gymnastics at the beginning of the year after a 10 year break, the title of double British Champion was certainly well earned. Gill Robinson and Laura McCulloch also competed in the recreational over 20s and both improved on their scores from last year.

Steve Bond retained his title as British Champion in the men's over 40's recreational competition and Pat Conduit won the Gold medal in the men's over 30's recreational competition to become the British Champion.

Lindsey Andrews won the Silver medal in the women's over 30s recreational competition. For both Pat and Lindsey this was the first event they had competed in and so did exceptionally well to come away with medals.

Two of the team's gymnasts competed in the women's 'Formers' competition

- designed with a higher level of difficulty for those who had done gymnastics competitively when they were younger. One of these gymnasts was the team's very own Assistant coach - Tracy Rickards. Tracy competed in the over 20's competition and Ronnie Brownhill competed in the over 30s competition. Both did extremely well, coming 8th and 5th respectively.

If you want to have a go, the adults train at Basingstoke Gymnastics Club with Coach Paul Rickards on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:45 to 8:30.

Written by Laura McCulloch

17th British Veterans Competition 2004

Basingstoke Gymnastic Club were lucky enough to have 6 of its adult gymnasts attend the 17th British Veterans Championships in Ipswich on 25 September 2004. The competition is for anyone over the age of 18 and allows former and recreational gymnasts to compete on all apparatus against people in the same age groups - the oldest competitor this year was 69! All of the Basingstoke gymnasts were entered into the recreational competition as the majority of the team only started gymnastics two years ago.

Nikki Cooper, Laura McCulloch and Gill Robinson all competed in the over 20's age group with all three achieving personal best scores. Anna Varnam competed in the over 40's age group and again did exceptionally well. The highlight of the competition, however, was the two male competitors both achieving medals. Steve Bond was awarded the Gold medal for the over 40s age group and Raith Munro was awarded the Silver medal in the over 30s age group. This was an amazing achievement considering that this was the first competition for both gymnasts. These fantastic results meant that Basingstoke Gymnastics Club came second in the team competition.

With the success of this year, which was the first time the club had entered the competition, there are great hopes for next year. Anyone who is interested in the adult gymnastics, the classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:45-8:30pm.

Written by Laura McCulloch



Home Where we train Our coaches Team news Upcoming Adult Competitions Competition Information Packs and Entry Forms Team successes Team Results 2010 Team Results 2009 Team results 2008 Team results 2007 Team results 2006 Team results 2005 Team Results 2004 Competition Write-Ups Photo gallery Members only	Competition Write-Ups 4th Basingstoke Invitational 2010 Sunday June 6^th 2010 saw over 80 adults from all over the country turn up at the Active Life Centre to take part in the 4^th Basingstoke Adult Invitational gymnastics competition. Unfortunately due to holiday commitments and injuries, the Basingstoke Adult Squad had reduced numbers entering, but still the team managed to put on a good show. The Competition commenced with David Cahill competing in the Over 18 Mens Artistic Recreational section. This was the biggest mens group ever seen at this competition and David put in a good all-round effort to end up in 5^th place. This was then followed by the Acrobatics section. Basingstoke entered a Womens Pair of Lisa Butler and Louise Palmer and a Womens Trio of Lisa, Louise and Tracy Rickards. Despite really tough competition from Woking, Loughborough and West Street, both the Pair and the Trio performed solid and clean routines to be awarded the gold medal in both groups. Lisa also competed in the Tumbling section of the competition. She performed two good runs to come away with the silver medal. The afternoon session saw the Womens Artistic section. Basingstoke had three entries: Lisa Butler, Louise Palmer and Natalie Bond. All competed in the Over 18 Intermediate competition. It was a closely fought competition for the biggest group of the day and even though she had a disaster on the Beam, Lisa performed exceptionally on all her other pieces to earn herself the gold. Natalie was taking part in her first adult competition, and had a great day taking the silver medal. Although carrying a couple of injuries, Louise put in a good performance to end up in a creditable 4^th place. The Adult Squad are now all training hard for the British Veterans Championships that will take place later in the year. 21st British Veterans Championships 2008 This year Basingstoke was represented by nine of it's adults at the Veterans competition. Steve Bond was the only male artistic representative this year, he took on a hard fought battle and was rewarded with the silver medal in the Mens Over 40 Recreational section. The Womens artistic section took on a new role: for the first time an Intermediate section was introduced and we had four gymnasts entered in it. Natalie Williams, Kirsten Venn, Lisa Butler and Louise Palmer all put in a good showing throughout the competition, despite many injuries and tough judging decisions. Jazmine Elbrow was the sole representative in the Beginner section. For her first National competition she performed extremely well and ended up in a creditable 7th place. In the Former section Basingstoke again only had one gymnast entered: Tracy Rickards. Knowing she was up against some tough opposition, she put in a good all round showing to be placed 6th. To top off the day's good efforts, in the team competition the mixed team had a pleasant surprise when they were awarded the silver medal. This year for the first time, Basingstoke entered two pairs in the Acrobatic Gymnastics section. The mixed pair of Ronny Brownhill and Steve Bond performed a good routine, despite the lack of practise time they had had, to come away with the gold medal. In the womens pairs, Claire Williams and Tracy Rickards had a disasterous start to their routine, but picked themselves up well to earn themselves the bronze. Two gymnasts also entered the tumbling competition. Lisa Butler came up against some stiff competition in the Formers section and was placed 9th. Ronny Brownhill entered the beginners section, having never competed this event before, and earned herself the gold medal. Well done to all who took part and we can now look forward to next year's events. 5th Glasgow Open Competition 2008 Sunday March 30th 2008 saw four of our Adult gymnasts travel to Glasgow for the 5th Glasgow Open. Natalie Williams, Kelly Hurd and Sarah Stagg competed in the Over 17 Beginners section. This was Kelly and Sarah's first Adult competition. Sarah got over her nerves and put in a solid all round performance to come in a creditable 8th. Kelly was a guest in this competition as she was just too young to compete in the age group. Her vault was superb and she included a round-off flic in her floor routine for the first time. Both these gymnasts now have a new goal to reach for the next competition in June. Natalie gave the best showing of the day. She continued her medal winning performace which she started last year in Glasgow, to win the gold medal in the section. The only gymnast from Basingstoke competing in the Formers section was Tracy Rickards. The over 30's section was tough this year, with gymnasts from Wetherby, Inverness and Beacon to compete against. After having no falls on beam, and a vault that had minimal faults, Tracy put in her best performance since coming back from injury to earn herself the Bronze medal. With their next competition coming up on June 8th, Basingstoke's adults are hoping that their fellow team members can come back from illness and injury to put on a good show on home turf. A special thanks goes to Steve Williams and Power Quest for the use of their song "Well of Souls" as floor music. 20th British Veterans Competition 2007 The 20th British Veterans Gymnastics Championships were held on Saturday September 22nd at Pipers Vale Gymnastics Club in Ipswich. Eight Adult gymnasts from Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, coached by Paul Rickards, Tracy Rickards and Alex Campbell, travelled to East Anglia to take part in the biggest event of the year, in the Adult Gymnastics calendar. Due to the numbers of competitors at this year’s event, registration for the Recreational competition was at 9am, a bit of a shock to some of the adults who wouldn’t be getting their Saturday morning lie-in!! The Women’s Over 18 Recreational section was the largest of the day. Basingstoke had four gymnasts in this section Nikki Brecht, Sophie Thomas, Kirsten Venn and Natalie Williams. Natalie gave a solid all round performance, with an average score of 12 and over on her top three pieces. She was awarded with the Bronze medal for her efforts. Nikki’s hand had ripped during training on the A Bars the previous week and was extremely painful throughout the whole competition. Kirsten only joined the Adult Class during August after having a break from gymnastic for ten years. She had been persuaded to come back to the gym by Natalie and her superb floor exercise made it look like she had never left. Both Nikki and Kirsten performed extremely well and were placed 5th and 6th respectively. Sophie was still suffering from a foot injury incurred earlier in the year, but she was still determined to give it a go. For the first time in a competition she performed a front somersault dismount off the beam and with her notable floor exercise she earned herself a respectable 18th place. Sophie also competed in the Over 18 Recreational Trampolining competition where she gave two good routines to see her end up in 4th place. Two other adult gymnasts competed in the Recreational competition: Heather Seaborne in the Women’s Over 30 section and Steve Bond in the Men’s Over 40 section. After being pipped to the post into 4th place at last year’s competition, Heather has worked extremely hard over the last few months and has put together a new floor routine for the occasion. This year her training paid off and she was awarded the Silver medal. For the first time in four years of entering this competition, Steve had some opposition. The scores were very tight after three pieces, after an unfortunate fall from his front somersault on the floor. As the only Over 40 competing on the High Bar, Steve pulled out all the stops and, including a new move for this year, performed an outstanding routine to earn himself the Silver medal. Basingstoke entered two gymnasts in the harder Formers Section of the competition. This is for gymnasts who competed at a Regional level or above when they were younger or those who feel that they are capable of entering the harder level of competition. Claire Williams competed in the Women’s Over 18 section and Tracy Rickards entered the Women’s Over 30 section. It was Claire’s first Veterans competition after having retired two years ago from international Team Gym. Following a bad landing on her first Vault run, she took up the challenge and gave a spotless Floor routine to earn herself a very creditable 4th place. Having moved up to the Over 30 section this year, Tracy faced the daunting task of a different level of opposition. Having had to withdraw from last year’s competition with a knee injury three days before the competition, she was determined to not let it stop her. Following a good Vault and a new Floor exercise at the end of the day she was placed 8th. There was also a team event run alongside the individual competition. Basingstoke entered two Women’s teams: the Basingstoke Belles – Nikki Brecht, Tracy Rickards, Claire Williams and Natalie Williams; and All Fired Up – Heather Seaborne, Sophie Thomas and Kirsten Venn. Their main competition for the team title were the ladies from Glasgow, but at the final showing Basingstoke won through. All Fired Up were awarded the Bronze, while the Gold medal and title of Women’s Team Champions 2007 went to the Basingstoke Belles. Everyone enjoyed the day, even though it was a long one, finishing at 7pm in the evening. The coaches would like to thank all the competitors for their efforts in giving Basingstoke Gymnastics Club another good year at the British Veterans Competition and for helping to put Adult Gymnastics well and truly on the map. Check out the Photo Gallery and Team Successes Pages for more... 18th British Veterans Competition 2005 On 17 September 2005 Basingstoke Gymnastic Club's adult gymnasts were once again represented at the British Gymnastics Veterans Championships held at Pipers Vale Gymnastics Centre in Ipswich. With the pressure on to improve on the Gold and Silver medals won last year, the team certainly did not disappoint - returning triumphantly with 4 Gold medals and one Silver. Emily McCullouch won the Gold medal in both the recreational women's over 20's and tumbling competitions. Having only returned to gymnastics at the beginning of the year after a 10 year break, the title of double British Champion was certainly well earned. Gill Robinson and Laura McCulloch also competed in the recreational over 20s and both improved on their scores from last year. Steve Bond retained his title as British Champion in the men's over 40's recreational competition and Pat Conduit won the Gold medal in the men's over 30's recreational competition to become the British Champion. Lindsey Andrews won the Silver medal in the women's over 30s recreational competition. For both Pat and Lindsey this was the first event they had competed in and so did exceptionally well to come away with medals. Two of the team's gymnasts competed in the women's 'Formers' competition - designed with a higher level of difficulty for those who had done gymnastics competitively when they were younger. One of these gymnasts was the team's very own Assistant coach - Tracy Rickards. Tracy competed in the over 20's competition and Ronnie Brownhill competed in the over 30s competition. Both did extremely well, coming 8th and 5th respectively. If you want to have a go, the adults train at Basingstoke Gymnastics Club with Coach Paul Rickards on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:45 to 8:30. Written by Laura McCulloch 17th British Veterans Competition 2004 Basingstoke Gymnastic Club were lucky enough to have 6 of its adult gymnasts attend the 17th British Veterans Championships in Ipswich on 25 September 2004. The competition is for anyone over the age of 18 and allows former and recreational gymnasts to compete on all apparatus against people in the same age groups - the oldest competitor this year was 69! All of the Basingstoke gymnasts were entered into the recreational competition as the majority of the team only started gymnastics two years ago. Nikki Cooper, Laura McCulloch and Gill Robinson all competed in the over 20's age group with all three achieving personal best scores. Anna Varnam competed in the over 40's age group and again did exceptionally well. The highlight of the competition, however, was the two male competitors both achieving medals. Steve Bond was awarded the Gold medal for the over 40s age group and Raith Munro was awarded the Silver medal in the over 30s age group. This was an amazing achievement considering that this was the first competition for both gymnasts. These fantastic results meant that Basingstoke Gymnastics Club came second in the team competition. With the success of this year, which was the first time the club had entered the competition, there are great hopes for next year. Anyone who is interested in the adult gymnastics, the classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:45-8:30pm. Written by Laura McCulloch
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