Last updated at 16:29, Monday, 05 November 2012

TERRIFIC tumbling and perfectly-executed performances landed Furness gymnasts a five-medal haul at the Cumbria Intermediate Championships.

MEDAL HAUL: Furness Gymnastics Club members who enjoyed a successful day at the Cumbria Intermediate Championships in Carlisle. They are (back, from left): Naomi Wojcik and Deborah Hoyle. Middle: Isabelle Walker, Annabel Atherton and Kate Mitchell. Front: Gabby Wheeler and Emma Newsham LINDSEY DICKINGS REF: 50039741B001

Furness Gymnastics Club sent a group of eight competitors – their largest ever – to Carlisle and they returned home with three silver medals and two bronze, to show for their impressive efforts.

Taking to the bars, beam, floor and vault against the best gymnasts in the county, the under-11s team performed superbly as a unit to take the silver.

With scores from all four apparatus counting towards both the team and individual rankings, the girls needed to be at their best, and they dug deep to produce some fine displays. Team captain Emma Newsham, Gabby Wheeler, Isabelle Walker, Annabel Atherton and Kate Mitchell, who have little experience at this level, beat girls aged up to two years their senior, for a place on the podium.

There was individual glory as well for two of the team, as Newsham – the only gymnast on the day to perform a daring change leg quarter-turn leap on the beam – claimed a second silver.

She was joined on the podium by Wheeler, who shone on the vault and tumbled well on the floor to claim under-11s individual bronze.

In the over-12s age group, there were superb individual performances from Furness pair Naomi Wojcik and Deborah Hoyle.

Hoyle put together an outstanding asymmetrical routine and competed well on the other apparatus to clinch the silver in her first competition at intermediate level.

She finished just 0.050 marks ahead of Wojcik, who claimed bronze on the back of a single training session in six weeks, following long-term joint issues.

Wojcik performed extremely well, especially on floor and vault, in her final competitive gymnastics event, with her injuries forcing her to give up the sport.

The club would like to pass on their congratulations to all the girls who took part in Carlisle.

First published at 16:24, Monday, 05 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk