SEVEN of the region’s best young trampolinists headed to Northern Ireland on Saturday, March 24, to compete in the National Final of the British Schools competition with Arran Stannard-Heap and Emillie Hughes winning their events.

The finals were held in Newtownards, with over 350 competitors coming from all over the UK.

The event begun at 8am and carried on all the way through till 6pm that evening, proving to be a long — yet successful day for the Launceston qualifiers as they all finished in the top of their respective categories.

The competitors finished in the following positions:

Arran Stannard-Heap (Callington College) — Winner of the under 14 Boys Intermediate category; Emillie Hughes (Notre Dame Roman Catholic School) — Winner of the under 13 Girls category 2; Thomas Barriball (home-schooled) — Runner-up in the Under 13 Boys Novice category; Oliver Vine (Delaware Primary School) — 4th in the under 11 Boys Intermediate category; Keira Moore — Tregadillett Primary School — 4th in the under 11 Girls Novice category; Daisy Heal (Mount Kelly Prep School) — 6th in the under 11 Girls Intermediate category; Ethan Baker (Tavistock College) — 6th in the under 13 Boys Novice category

The young athletes train with coach Anne Dodds at the Phoenix Leisure Centre, Launceston and for their club Zero Gravity Academy in Saltash.

The youngsters firmly enjoyed their time in Northern Ireland, taking in the sights in their time away from the gym.

Less than 24 hours later, Mrs Dodds was in Bristol for the British Gymnastics South West Division Regional National Development Plan Trampoline and DMT Compulsory Final.

Launceston-based duo Imogen Spooncer and Madison Vine have been selected as part of the South West trampolining squad, ahead of the summer championships in June. Alongside their coach, the two girls travelled to Bath University to compete in their compulsory final stage, where they would be judged on both their Trampoline and Double Mini Tramp game to see if they would qualify for the team.

Both girls were competing at Level 1 in Double Mini Tramp and Level 5 in Trampoline, and their results on the day were as followed.

Imogen Spooncer — Winner of the 13+ Girls Level 1 Double Mini Tramp and 8th in the 15+ Girls Level 5 Trampoline; Madison Vine — Runner-up in the 13+ Girls Level 1 Double Mini Tramp and 6th in the 13-14yrs Girls Level 5 Trampoline

The girls also had to perform a ten-move ‘range and conditioning’ floor routine and with a minimum pass rate of 70% needed to be considered for selection, both Vine and Spooncer managed 84%, executing their routine with excellent precision and skill.

As a result, they will know travel to Birmingham to represent the South West as part of the South West Mini Tramp team, in June of this year.

Both girls train locally at the Phoenix Leisure Centre in Launceston with Dodds and offered thank Joanne Vine, Stephanie Dodds and Alivia Coles for their time and effort assisting at the competition as fully qualified judges.