trampolining

Cambridge Cangaroos came away from the first English Championships of the year with two medals to show for their efforts.

The club had eight entrants into the event at Medway Park in Gillingham, which was their biggest number of representatives for some years.

And they were rewarded with a silver medal for Nicola Bannister, while Yacine Boulmaache won a bronze medal among some other impressive performances.

Bannister was competing for the Cangaroos for the first time after moving to the Cambridge area last year, having previously been a gymnast at a high level of disability competition at national level.

And despite the fact that she had not appeared at a competition for four years and had only just recovered from optical surgery, she showed no ill effects with a combined score from two rounds of 56.40 to finish as the runner-up in the Disability Cat 2 15+ Girls.

Meanwhile, her new club-mate Boulmaache claimed third spot in his first ever individual national competition appearance.

Featuring in the 11-12 Silver Boys section, he recovered from a few wobbles to score 75.53 and secure a spot on the podium.

Those two individuals also secured themselves a place in the English Finals, as did Lucas Coleman-Denny, who featured in the 9-10 Silver Boys segment of the competition. The youngster produced two good exercises, scoring 34.93 in his first round and 39.39 in his second round, giving a total of 74.32, which was good enough for a sixth-placed finish.

Coleman-Denny was also in action on the second day in the Youth Gold Boys competition – the highest level in the country for his age group.

He was the youngest of the 22 competitors, yet he successfully executed both routines, scoring 31.97 for his first routine and an improved 38.21 for his second one to give a total of 70.18 and a 19th-placed finish.

Freya Carter produced two solid routines in the 9-10 Silver Girls, scoring 33.26 in her first exercise and 38.25 in her second exercise, placing her 18th out of 36 gymnasts, while in the 11-12 Silver Girls there was a 24th-placed finish for Esme Rowlandson. She scored 35.71 for her first exercise and 40.38 for her second, giving a total of 76.09.

Lily Carter produced her two best ever routines for form, scoring an impressive 37.30 for her first routine in the 13-14 Silver Girls. However, an error in her second routine due to the inclusion of a second body landing meant she only registered a score of 33.26 to give her a total score of 70.63 and 41st place.

The Cangaroos are now working towards the National Age Group Championships in Telford over the weekend of June 3.