Cambridge Cangaroos bring curtain down on successful season with two national competitions in Birmingham

Cambridge Cangaroos’ successful year was highlighted by the fact that they had five gymnasts competing at the two recent season-ending national competitions.

At the Utilita Arena-hosted British Championships in Birmingham, Sara Shaw had been due to be joined by club-mate Nicola Bannister.

However, despite fighting her way back to fitness from an ankle injury, Bannister was cruelly denied the chance to perform after contracting Covid.

Shaw, meanwhile, managed a score 38.43 during her first exercise and her second exercise was also going well until an under-rotation on the 10th skill resulted in a penalty from each judge.

This meant Shaw, who splits her time training between Cambridge and Singapore, where she lives for most of the year, saw her score reduced to 44.37 and giving a final tally. Shaw finished 29th out 44 gymnasts in that section and on what was her debut at that level, was ranked 329th in the whole of Great Britain.

A week later at the same venue, the Cangaroos had four gymnasts featuring as part of the Team East squad at the Inter-Regional Challenge Cup Finals.

The competition sees 10 teams from across the country compete at the Regional levels (Levels 1-4) in their age groups in trampoline, double-mini trampoline (DMT) and tumbling.

In the seven years that the event has been running, Team East have been crowned champions on a record four occasions and they headed into this year’s instalment as the holders.

However, despite the best efforts of the Cangaroos representatives and their team-mates, they came third in the trampoline and fifth in the DMT.

In the Women’s Category 2 disability, the club’s Iza Moutrie finished seventh with a combined score of 22.30, while Amelie Hacker took ninth spot in the Women’s Level 4 15-16 age group with a score of 81.21.

Both Esme Rowlandson and Liannah Le Roy Tickner featured in the DMT event, with the duo producing highly competitive performances.

Rowlandson’s score of 80.20 saw her finish as the runner-up, while Le Roy Tickner was just 0.10 behind in joint third. However, tie-break rules eventually saw her slip another place to fourth.

The gymnasts will now enjoy a short break before the 2023/24 season starts on October 29 with the regional qualifiers in Harlow.

The upcoming campaign starts earlier than normal due to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.