Travel drama fails to fluster gymnasts

Medallists: Gisborne Gymnastics Club members (from left) Sarah Hawkins, Amarah Cameron, Lea O’Reilly, Sage Thorpe, Emmie Fitzharris, Sage Alexander, India Gill, Catalina Camero and Capria Tamatea wth their latest medals. Picture by Liam Clayton

SIXTEEN gymnasts from Gisborne signed up to compete in the Wellington Open Championships.

It was a huge commitment from their families to get them to Wellington, especially with the road to Napier being closed by the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti  supported the gymnastics team with a fund for this event. Without this help, some of the children would not have been able to compete.

Some families chose to travel the nine hours by car, while others booked flights to shorten the travelling time.

Minutes before boarding time for the scheduled 4pm departure, the flight was cancelled. This meant that the club’s judge and one gymnast would not be on time for the beginning of the competition at 7.30am on the Saturday.

The idea of an impromptu drive was considered and dismissed, as both judge and gymnast would have been so tired from the travel that their performance would have been affected.

At 8.30pm Air New Zealand flew everyone to Auckland to stay the night and continue their journey to Wellington the next morning.

They still had an hour-long drive to the event and when they arrived the gymnasts were halfway through the Step 4 competition.

Amarah Cameron warmed up as fast as she could and joined the competition. The organisers were accommodating and she was able to also compete in the two events she had missed due to the cancellation of the flight.

Amarah performed her routines beautifully and finished with a silver medal for the overall event in Step 4. She placed eighth on vault, fourth on uneven  bars and 10th on the floor, and won gold on the balance beam.

Results —

Step 1: Sage Alexander brought home gold in the all-round competition. She also won bronze on uneven bars and silver on floor. Emmie Fitzharris was fifth overall and won bronze on floor, bronze on balance beam and silver on vault. Zara Green placed fourth on uneven bars.

Step 2: Sage Thorpe won gold in the overall event. She also won gold on uneven bars, bronze on balance beam and silver on floor. Daphne Morris placed seventh on balance beam and fourth on uneven bars.

Step 3: India Gill competed in the division for those aged up to 10 years and won gold in the all-round event. She also placed first on vault, balance beam and floor. Catalina Camero competed in the 11-years-and-over division and won silver in the all-round event. She placed fourth on uneven bars, and won silver on balance beam and gold on floor.

Lea O’Reilly won bronze on uneven bars and placed fourth on balance beam.

Zeva Kinnaird placed fourth on vault.

The Gisborne team (Zeva Kinnaird, Lea O’Reilly, Catalina Camero and India Gill) won gold in the Step 3 team event.

Step 4: Amarah Cameron won silver overall and gold for her balance beam, and placed fourth on uneven bars. Lizelle Duckworth placed sixth on floor and fifth on vault and was seventh overall.

Step 5: Aria Thorpe placed 10th overall.

Step 6: Capria Tamatea won gold in the all-round event and on floor. She was sixth on uneven bars and won silver on balance beam. Miriam Cornfeld placed fifth overall, and was fourth on balance beam and seventh on floor.

Step 7: Sarah Hawkins placed fifth overall. She was fifth on vault, won silver on uneven bars and won bronze on balance beam. Sarai Gudgeon placed 11th overall.