Splitz Gymnastics Club hosted over 300 gymnasts in Fermanagh Lakeland Forum for their annual Valentine's Acrobatics Competition.

What started as a PEACE IV project in 2019 between two Clubs with 50 participants, has grown beyond expectation to the point where maximum capacity was reached before the closing date and clubs had to be turned away.

In total nine acrobatic gymnastics clubs were involved, including two clubs from the Republic of Ireland- Killeevan Gymnastics Club from Newbliss and Clondalkin Gymnastics from Dublin.

Abbey Gymnastics Club from Belfast who supplied a judge, Flight Gymnastics based in Mallusk, Newry Gymnastics, Queens Gymnastics from Hollywood, Rathgael Gymnastics Club from Bangor, Splitz Gymnastics based in Enniskillen and the Gymnastics Academy from Comber.

The competition was split into two parts with the National Development Gymnasts (NDP) performing in the morning and the Regional gymnasts having their competition in the afternoon. It was a resounding success for all concerned.

Each partnership performed a two-minute routine to music combining standardised balances and dynamic moves interspersed with elements of dance.

The categories ranged from NDP Grades 1-4 in the junior section to the Senior grades five, Youth and International Development Plan (IDP).

In the NDP category Splitz gymnasts picked up several medals.

In the Grade 1 Women’s pair Arabella Thompson and Mollie-Kate Brewster came second while in the Grade 1 Mixed Pair, it was first place for Erin McGoldrick and Dualta McNabb.

The Grade 3 Women’s pairs saw Sophie McGrath and Zara Fisher take first ahead of Annie-Rose Bannon and Caoimhe O’Reilly.

In the Grade 3 Women’s trio it was second place for Poppie Beddard, Naoise Kerrin and Kyra Duffy as well as Sofia Allen, Lucy Rice and Emily Jordan Grade.

Poppy Corr and Naoise Kerrin came third in the Grade 4 Women’s pair while in the Grade 4 Mixed pair Sarah Wilson and Dale Fisher finished second.

In the Grade 4 Women’s trio it was a fourth-place finish for Laoise Fogarty, Alicia McElwaine and Phoebe Rutledge. 

In the Youth Women’s pair, Emily Hanna and Maeve Duffy top the standing and it was the same in the Youth Women’s Trio for Eva-Rose McCluskey, Jessica Hanna and Aoife McGuigan.

In the IDP Women’s Trio Mena O’Reilly, Riona Dooris and Sarah Rutledge finished second.

For the Regional Splitz gymnasts, Grade 1 Women’s pair of Sadie Clendenning and Honor Leonard came fourth while Eva-Jane Curley and Jessica Bennett came sixth.

In Grade 2 Women’s Pair it was an eighth place finish for Cora Larkin and Maisie Cassidy and a 10th place finish for Maddie Martin and Jessica Maher.

Grade 2 Women’s Trio of Amy Graham, Roisin Rice and Ava Kirkpatrick came 10th while Grade 3 Women’s pairs Ella McCaghery and Annie-Kate Dillon finished seventh.

In the Grade 3 Women’s trio Kayla Kirkpatrick, Laoise Corrigan and Saoirse Sliman took third place.

For NDP Grades each club had a partnership awarded the overall highest score trophy and the worthy recipients for Splitz were gymnasts Sophie McGrath and Zara Fisher with their tightly executed Grade 3 routine achieving an excellent score of 24.10.

Splitz members wish to recognise the contributions of all the volunteer parents who helped make this competition such a success with a special mention to Head Coach Jennifer Hanna for her expertise in the field of Acrobatic gymnastics, and her seemingly endless enthusiasm in developing this club further each year, Assistant coaches Siobhan Fisher, Ellie Rutledge, Julia Campbell, Liam Campbell, Karolina Campbell, Rhian Thompson, Jessica Hogg and Sarah Rutledge.

Also, a big well done to the club's newly qualified judges: Dale Fisher, Riona Dooris and Maeve Duffy who judged for the first time at this competition and all their young leaders who helped the competition to run so smoothly.

The club is looking forward to exciting times ahead as their NDP squad partnerships enter the Northern Ireland Section of the British Acro Qualifiers on March 3 and the Regional squad compete in Mallusk in April.