Gym quartet claim national honours

Alex Rawson, Kieran Buller, Jamie Appleton and Calum Campbell, all aged nine and members of Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, were part of a team of six, selected to represent the southern region in the primary four age category.

The boys have been making fortnightly trips to train at Pitt Street Gymnastics Centre, Portsmouth, along with two other team members in preparation for this, the highlight of the competition calendar in boys' gymnastics.

All four boys performed set routines on seven pieces of apparatus and clean performances throughout saw them beat gymnasts from 11 other regions to take the team gold convincingly, 3.5 marks ahead of the second-placed South West team.

In the individual competition, boys from the southern region took four of the top six places with Basingstoke's Kieran Buller taking fifth place and Alex Rawson, second.

Rawson, the highest-placed southern region gymnast, also had the competition's highest scores on the rings and vault.

The southern region team were coached by Basingstoke Gymnastics Club's senior men's coach Barry Phelan.

Meanwhile, the Basingstoke squad topped off a successful season by taking the silver medal in the prestigious Rushmoor boys' team competition, which saw teams from throughout the country compete at Rushmoor Gymnastics Academy, Aldershot.

The top individual scores from three different age groups were added together to give the team total, with Basingstoke narrowly pipped to the gold medal by Olga Gymnastics Club, Poole by just 0.3 of a point.

Three Basingstoke boys in two different age groups won individual medals. Tom Forster took bronze in the primary three age group and, in the primary fours, Kieran Buller won silver and Alex Rawson gold.

Basingstoke team, pre-primary 4: Elliot Mellish, Lee Rawson, Ben Woolmer; primary 4: Jamie Appleton, Kieran Buller, Calum Campbell, James Live-more, Alex Rawson; primary 3: Tom Forster.