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World title for Durham Gymnasts!
Monday 6th October 2008
It was as good as it gets for the Men’s Group (11-16 year group) at the World Championships in Glasgow yesterday (Sunday 5th October). The team won the gold medal and World Championship title for team GB in a nail-biting final.
Deerness
Valley Gymnasts made up half the total GB team for the
World Age Group Acrobatics hosted by Glasgow and held at
Kelvin Hall.The toughest competition came from the
Russian team who were beaten in to silver medal position
by the Durham trained team of Reece Stockport,16, Matthew
Evison,15, Jonathan Bell,16 and Joseph Dean,12. The
team's balance routine netted them a winning score of
28.600 and an unforgettable podium place. This is what
they had to say afterwards.Reece Stockport, "It's
unbelievable that I'm a world champion. I can't keep
still really."Joseph Dean "It's been really good to
perform in front of a home crowd it feels brilliant to be
a world champion. I'm over the moon."Matthew Evison,
"World champion, it sounds pretty good."Joseph Dean, "I'm
ecstatic about winning gold. It was great to be up on the
podium with the national anthem playing."Reece's mum,
Helen Stockport from Sherburn Village in Durham, was with
the rest of the nervous supporters in the crowd "Watching
the boys was really intense, the standards were so high,
but the Deerness team carried out their routine with
absolute precision. The enjoyment showed on all their
faces, but I had tears streaming down mine. I was so very
proud of them all."Deerness Valley Gymnastics Club also
provided team GB with another podium place. The Women's
Pair of Alexandra Stephens, 15, and Rebekah Cook, 11,
performed brilliantly to take bronze medal position. Both
had a real fight on their hands after the warm up
classes. Says Alexandra, "I'm ecstatic, just amazed.
There weren't any bad mistakes in the routine, not this
time. The first balance routine on Friday was a bit,
well, terrible and we were 15th, but we clawed our way
back to the finals and here we are; third place, it's
great."It was particularly outstanding for Rebekah, as
Team GB's youngest competitor, "It was just amazing. I
never thought we'd get this far. Yes, I was nervous but
once we were out there it all went fine." The medal
winners will be honoured by The Right Worshipful the
Mayor of Durham Councillor Grenville Holland at the
charity gymnastics display at Deerness leisure Centre
later this year. He said: "These brilliant young gymnasts
have brought great honour to our city and I share with
every citizen a sense of pride in their achievements.
Through their endeavours and those of their dedicated
coaches they have successfully put Deerness Valley and
its gymnastics team on the world map. I look forward to
meeting with them and congratulating them in person very
soon."
For the team this is top of the world literally as acrobatic gymnastics is not an Olympic sport, but they won't be taking any big breaks. They might get a couple of days then it's back to the grindstone at Deerness preparing for their ever popular Christmas displays.