Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge gymnasts from the town’s Monarchs Gymnastics Club are celebrating success on the worldwide stage.
Kian Hawkes was selected to compete in the World Championships in Portugal last week and progressed to the finals in the balance and dynamic competitions.
The club’s Mandy Warburton told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Following one of our gymnasts being invited to join a gymnastics club in Tunbridge Wells as they were looking for another man to make up a men’s group, Kian Hawkes moved up there and took part in the British Championships where they were selected to go to the World Championships in Portugal last week.”
“Thursday and Friday saw the qualifications competition and the top 8 from each country went on to compete at the weekend in the finals. Kian’s group qualified in both the balance and dynamic competitions and were amazing.”
“They finished in 6th place in the balance section, 5th in the combined and 4th in the dynamic routine, just missing the bronze medal won by the Azerbaijan group by .02 of a mark with China in 1st place and Israel 2nd.”
“We are so proud to have been there to see them compete on the Sunday. Their coach Chris Rogers was also a gymnast at Monarchs and competed in national and international competitions before moving on to other clubs and then forming his own very successful club.”
She adds that the club is looking to expand: “We are currently trying to find larger premises so that we can have two floors. We only have a small unit and have one floor which means we can’t have all of our gymnasts training together.”
“We have some very talented coaches and gymnasts and due to the growth in our area we have always got a waiting list for younger gymnasts being able to be brought in to the competitive groups.”
If there is anyone who can help them find a large enough unit please contact Monarchs at mandymonarchs@gmail.com
