The winning design was by 11 year old Rebecca Skittrell from Kings Lynn Gymnastics Club in Norfolk. She received a call from Becky Downie to give her the great news.

Becky tweeted "Just called the winner of the BG / Milano design a leo competition!! FAB design & I think one extremely shocked yet happy little girl."

Rebecca's design was undoubtedly 'I am BG' inspired featuring red, white and blue and an interesting design to the rear of the leotard. This is the leotard Becky will be wearing at the British Championships in June at Echo arena in Liverpool.

It's good news for all the 150 competition entries though who will receive an opportunity to two free tickets to see either the WAG Junior all around competition OR the MAG U16/U18 all around competition at the 2012 British Championships in Liverpool. Both competition sessions take place on Friday 22nd June.

County Championships Levels 7, 6, 5 & 4

6th May Rushcliffe Leisure Centre

Photos by Event Photos www.eventphotos.co.uk

We didn't think the competition would get underway but we know that all the competing gymnasts and coaches have been working hard towards this comp for a long time and hope families and friends enjoyed seeing their gymnast compete.  Not everyone can be a winner but our young gymnasts did the club proud.

IAE Level 5

Competing at their first competition as members of Notts D1 Ramiyah Kofi, Georgia Walker, Isabella Willocks and Lily Moss took part in the in age Level 5 competition.

The girls started well on floor with clean routines. Next up was vault where all girls performed good vaults. On bars, Ramiyah competed her newly learnt upstart, while Georgia and Lily conquered their squat on fears to perform great routines. Unfortunately Isabella had a fall but completed the rest of her routine bravely. All girls finished their competition showing off some newly learnt skills on beam with no falls. A successful day by all and a good warm up for Level 5 Regionals in September.

Level 5 In Age left to right: Georgia Walker, Ramiyah Kofi and Lily Moss

IAE Levels 7 and 6

By Laura Piedallu-Wilson

13 gymnasts from Notts D2 Squad where selected to compete in the County Championships, a huge achievement for some girls who have only been part of the D2 squad for a few months.

D2 with coaches Liberty Sheard, Laura Piedallu-Wilson & Amber Moore (Photo: Notts)

In the Level 7 catagory for girls age 6 Notts were represented by 6 girls. Emma Croyden began the competition with a strong vault and produced a controlled beam routine, a fantastic effort for one of our newcomers. Lara Hill controlled her nerves well and perfomed beautifully on floor and beam showing her courage and ever growing confidence. A fantastic bar routine was performed by Lauretta Loach showing her strength and determination which continued throughout the other pieces earning her fourth place. Another strong little gymnast Libby- Anne Hardman worked hard to keep her power under control to show neat moves earning her the Bronze medal. Amelie Hornsby perfomed consistently on all pieces showing beautifully presented routines to earn her the silver medal. The Level 7 title was won by Piper Tobin-Storer who performed elegant routines after a rough time on bars which had been giving her some trouble in training. However she bravely attempted her half turn and despite falling, won the gold.

In Age Level 7 Left to right:  Amelie Hornsby, Piper Tobin-Storer, Libby-Anne Hardman

In the Level 6 catagory for girls age 7 we had 7 gymnasts competing. Hannah Clarkson-Webb and Nozipho Dean, having only been part of the squad for a few months produced 2 powerful vaults each with Hannah adding a determined effort on floor and Nozipho producing an amazing bar routine to show how far they had come in such a short period of time. We saw two beautifully presented beam routines from Leah Iyamah-Arbovin and Olivia Coventry both bravely performing handstands on the high beam. The bronze medal went to Georgianna Lewis who showed her elegance and flexibility in a superb floor routine earning the highest score of the competition on floor. After an unfortunate fall from the beam, Summer Hill fought back throughout the rest of the competition with impressive routines on all the other pieces to earn herself a well deserved silver medal. The Gold went to Alice Marriott who showed strong routines on all pieces of apparatus proving her determination, poise and maturity to gain the title of Level 7 champion.

In Age Level 6 left to right: Summer Hill, Alice Marriott, Georgiana Lewis
 
A huge well done to all the girls who competed in what was for the majority of girls, their first ever competition. They were all superbly behaved and acted with the upmost maturity making their coaches very proud.
 
An extra thank you to Liberty Sheard who has helped coach D2 the past few months and helped the gymnasts through the competition and also a huge thank you to all the Judges, Parents and other Notts gymnasts who came to help allowing the competition to take place.

Level 4 Out of Age: Sophie Brogan and Anushka Bovill                            Level 5 Out of age: Sara Smith and Maddy Murphy

With thanks to all the parents and runners that helped on the day and Lillie for doing the music and Billie for scoring. A grand total of £212.25 was raised through the sale of refreshments and the raffle which will go into Notts Academy fund-raising.

The runners (left) and with coach Jordan Lipton (right) (Photos: Helen Vick)

 For full results click on the PDF below

Notts Junior County Champs 2012

12 year old Ellie Downie wins 6 gold medals, with head coach from Notts Claire Starkey

This week at the UK School games, Ellie Downie reigned supreme on every piece of apparatus, sharing the Gold medal on beam with the amazingly flexible gymnast Catherine Lyons.

Ellie started on bars with 13.050, followed by beam 13.350, floor 12.950 and vault 13.675. Her total all around score of 53.200 was 3 points clear of her closest rival. Ellie collected a gold medal for each piece of apparatus, a gold as the AA Champion and gold for the England team. After a long recovery from an elbow injury, Ellie is right back at the top and is set to follow her sister's footsteps with her sights set on the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics.

Head coach Clarie Starkey from Notts said "Ellie did a fantastic job at the games. She was ready and well prepared. This was an important event for her. I know she could be a great star for the future and her preparation is heading in the right direction."

Proud sister Becky said "Ellie totally smashed the UK school games! A clean sweep of all the gold medals, 6 golds for Ellie!!!"

Vault Presentation: Tyehsa Mattis, Ellie Downie and Scotlands Erin McLachlan

In the girls team event the team from England again took the title with a total of 204.250 ahead of Wales in second 188.900, Northern Ireland in third 131.100 and Scotland in fourth 77.450.

The gymnasts competing in this event have developed through the National Governing Body talent development programmes and will hope to go on to represent their country at international level. This event therefore, is for young gymnasts to aspire towards their way through the pathway to international competition. 

The event has been used as a pre-Olympic venue test event and was opened by Sebastian Coe.

Full Twist Gymnastics said before the event, "Some of the names may be familiar in both MAG and WAG, especially Ellie Downie, younger sister of 2008 British Olympian Becky Downie. Also representing England will be 2012 British Espoir All Around Champion Tyesha Mattis of East London and Catherine Lyons. Northern Ireland will be represented by Irish All Around Champion Casey Bell."

The future of GB gymnastics looks very promising indeed!

England  Ellie Downie, Tyesha Mattis, Catherine Lyons, Lauren Mitchell, Caitlin Tsang, Phoebe Turner and Amy Tinkler

Wales Elizabeth Dare, Sasha Winton, Eloise Aitken, Rhyannon Jones, Rebecca Moore, Harriet Moore, Annaliese Evans

Scotland Shannon Archer, Emily Ford, Erin McLachlan

Northern Ireland Casey Bell, Hannah Leckey, Emma Mackey, Gemma Mullan

For full results click here

With thanks to Alex Downie for the photos.

Read about Becky Downie in this month's Vogue magazine at Peter Lindbergh's Vogue Olympic athletes shoot.

JUNE VOGUE - Peter Lindbergh captures some of the British hopefuls ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in Sporting Gods with images that pay tribute to the versatility, beauty and brilliance of the human body.