The North of England NDP (National Development Plan) Regional Championships took place last weekend, as Gymnastic clubs from the North competed for a place in the National Finals, which are held in Stoke-on-Trent in May.
Athena Gymnastic Club, based in Newton Aycliffe and Shildon, this year sent a large squad of 24 of the club’s best gymnasts to compete against the best from clubs in Teesside, Durham and North and South Tyneside.
The competition is split into NDP Grades 1 – 6 and Disability Acro Grades 2 – 3, as well as into Women’s Pairs, Mixed Pairs, Men’s Pair and Women’s Group (Trio).
A spokesperson for the club said, “The commitment and training that goes into this competition is intensive and for the gymnast starts a year before the competition, so a lot of hard work has been put in by the Coach and Gymnasts alike.
“Athena, in the last couple of years, have managed to get gymnasts to Stoke and a couple of years ago we had a gold medal-winning pair at the finals. This year we worked really hard with the squad and competed with the largest team of gymnasts we have ever put into this competition.”
This year’s competition saw Athena come away with a personal best for the club of 2 Gold and 3 Silver medals, making it a very successful weekend.
The first Gold for the club came on the Saturday as Joshua Ashton and Millie Parsley won the Grade 1 Pairs, and the second Gold came on the Sunday as Arran Fuller and Amelia Dent won the grade 5 Mixed Pairs with Athena’s Calvin Beaton and Millie Turley taking the Silver in a very close competition.
Arran and Amelia went one better than last year when they finished runners-up but were invited to Stoke where they did themselves and the club proud with a 5th place finish in the finals.
The other Silver medals from the weekend went to Emily Neal / Millie Foster (Disability Acro Grade 2 Women’s Pair), and Shakira Palmer / Frances Andelin (Grade 3 Women’s Pair).
The club was particularly elated with Shakira and Frances’ silver as they beat 18 other pairs to get their places (the biggest category of the day).
The club’s coaches were really pleased with the medals that were won and very pleased with the gymnasts that took part over the weekend competition, as every one of them did the club proud.
The club would like to thank Honest John for their help with sponsoring some of the gymnasts.
If you are interested in joining Athena, contact Sam on 01388 605946.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
