SOUTH ESSEX’S girls continued their rapid progress with their best-ever result at the East Regional Grade Finals (6-1) in Ipswich.

The club sent 13 gymnasts (some are pictured above) to compete against their top rivals from Norfolk, Suffolk and Hertfordshire at Pipers Vale on Sunday, May 3.

The Essex girls, who had previously qualified through a county competition in Colchester in March, won eight medals at the regional event, two bronze and two silver and four champions.

(A full report on the event is available here.)

Coach Karen Grieves said: “It was a terrific result and shows how our coaching team is continuing to develop and also reflects the hard work of the gymnasts.”

A week later on May 10, South Essex’s Lucy McCarthy competed at the National Finals for Grade 2 in Stoke-on-Trent as a member of the East team.

Lucy got the highest bar score of the competition as she helped the team to a silver medal. (A full report is here.)

And a week after that on May 17, South Essex sent six girls to a new General Gymnastics competition at Ipswich Gymnastics Club.

The club won several medals – including a bars gold for Bethan Turvey and floor gold for Emma Reid. (A full report on that event can be found here.)