NZMG: Gymsports numbers triple for 2019 in Whanganui

Antonia Creese from Australia competes in gymsports at the Wanganui Boys & Girls Gym Club at Springvale Stadium on Saturday.

It might be the Downers New Zealand Masters Games sport that has seen the most growth, percentage wise, as the entry numbers had tripled for the Gymnastics and Trampoline module at the weekend.

Wanganui Boys & Girls Gym Club hosted 76 entrants aged between 20 and 60 years old, most of them in the novice category, for the start of the event on Saturday morning.

The 2017 edition of the NZMG only had around 20 competitors.

Club head coach Kelly Taylor-Ward said four had come from Australia, as well as others visiting from Northland, Hutt Valley, New Plymouth and Manawatu.

The local club coaches flew the Whanganui flag by taking part as well.

"It's just the popularity of adult gymnastics, it's just grown through the country," Taylor-Ward said.

"It made it quite tricky to organise [everyone].

"And there's a couple of teams that have entered that have never competed before – the parents of gymnasts."

A group of eight from the Hutt Valley, for example, had all decided to enter the sport after watching their children take part, and had spent a year training for the NZMG.

They had been nervous about the flips and tumbles, but they did well.

"Considering they were not gymnasts, they looked pretty tidy out there," said Taylor-Ward.

"It's having a go, which is what NZMG is all about."

Manawatu were also well represented with a team of 12.

The trampoline section was held in the evening after the gymnastics.