Bridge Gymnastics Club returned from the recent Northern Ireland Championships laden with medals, as the young group excelled on the National stage.

Competing over several days and across several disciplines, the young girls returned an impressive haul of medals, with Gracie Curtis, Lili Kurek and Joni O’Mahoney all producing gold medal winning performances.

Held over two weekends, the Championships had attracted the best young gymnasts from throughout the province as they battled for medals on the floor, the vault and the four piece which also incorporated beam and bars.

Bridge Gymnastic coach Naoisa Trotter was delighted with the performance of the competitors.

“On the day in Belfast we had 11 there and eight medals, and the weekend before we had six away and four medals,” she said.

“They had to qualify by getting into the top ten. They had two chances over Christmas and at Valentines, and all our girls made it.

“It is the first time we have got there because of Covid. They are doing really well, and we have some now on the elite performance pathway so they will be having Northern Ireland trials, and we have some hoping to qualify for British Championships.

“That is the season pretty much over now and the next one we have is in September where we hope to qualify for the British.”

With some of the girls training up to 16 hours per week, they were rewarded for their hard work. In addition to the gold medal winning performances, the girls, all aged between seven and 15, claimed numerous medals.

There were bronze medals for Guilianna Crean on the floor and Lucy Gallagher on the vault. Evanna McCreesh took third spot both on the floor and the all around competition, while Lili Kurek added two silver medals in the floor and all around to her gold in the vault.

Eily May Harkin took a trio of bronze medals in the bars, beam and all around, with bronze medals also claimed by Kyra Wills on bars.

Sisters Amy and Kerri Roache both took silver on the floor and the beam respectively, with second placed finishes also for Jessica Wills and Chloe Smith.

Gracie Curtis added a silver on the beam to her earlier gold, and Joni O’Mahoney also added to her gold with a silver on bars.