YARLSIDE Academy continued their gymnastics dominance at the Furness Academy cluster Key Steps Three competition.

The Barrow school, who had already tasted success in the Key Steps One and Two cluster events, saw their two teams on top once more.

Having claimed gold in the two younger age groups at last year's Cumbria School Games – where Lindal and Marton School completed a clean sweep in the small schools competition – they will hope to qualify for the county finals once more.

There were nine teams fighting it out in the first stage of this year's county event.

Cambridge Primary, Dane Ghyll, Greengate Juniors, St. Paul’s, Victoria Academy and Yarlside all entered teams.

In a change to previous years, the competition has been opened up to children in Year 1 through to Year 6, with restrictions on pupils who are members of gymnastics clubs being removed.

Predominantly, schools enter children in Year 5 and 6, unless they have a high level gymnast in a younger year group.

At Key Steps 3, gymnasts can choose how they perform both the floor and vault disciplines, rather than following a set programme or routine.

On the floor, they can choose from a number of different moves, links and balances, adding their own flair and performing to music.

For the vault routine, pupils are able to choose between an on-off move, where they stop atop the horse, for a mark out of nine, or a through vault for a mark out of 10.

With a place in the Furness Schools final up for grabs, every point was vital, with Yarlside's first team ending the day with a total of 92.5, just ahead of their second team, on 92.1.

Furness school games organiser Oliver Carswell was pleased to see such close competition and high-quality routines, and said: “You could tell a lot of time and effort had gone into all the performances, especially the floor routine.

“I imagine the teachers from the represented schools have been working hard for months getting their gymnasts ready for this competition.

“You could see on the gymnasts’ faces when all the hard work had come off in a great routine.

“The difference today between second and third places was only 0.2 points, which equates to only a bent knee or an unpointed toe in a routine, which are incredibly tight margins.”