IN arguably one of the best special gymnastics competitions held anywhere in the UK this year, Jersey’s Samantha Godel beat current British national disabilities’ champion Holly Cantrill at the Queen’s Hall this weekend to take gold on the floor before matching her on the vault, where both girls tied for first place.

Although Cantrill finished ahead of Godel in the other disciplines during her special Olympic routines, level 4, for the first time, ever, the Jersey under-21 gymnast was outstanding and finished with silver in this prestigious Special Olympics (Southern Region) tournament.

Meanwhile, for Godel in particular, it was a moment to savour.

As organiser John Grady said afterwards: ‘All the 231 visitors enjoyed the experience. The event was probably the best yet staged by the Mont เ l’Abbe club, and there were some outstanding achievements from our own Island gymnasts.

‘From the 29 local gymnasts taking part, for example, at level 1 Starina Norman and Charlie Quenault (both under-16) and Aaron Bonnar (under-12) won gold medals in their respective all-round age groups while Aaron also topped this by winning the trophy for the best level 1 score in the men’s competition – this against gymnasts much older than his own 11 years.

‘Alexa Kirkland (under-12), Fabio Cerveria (under-16) and Rui Reis (over-30) also took gold in their all-round gymnastics level 2 category while Martyn Miles (under-21) won gold at level 3 and also took the best score trophy at this higher level.

‘However, I think that most of us, locally, were pleased for Samantha because that’s the first time she’s competed at level 4. It really was a good weekend for gymnastics.’

Grady also mentioned the willingness of the Fort Regent staff, whose attention to detail was second to none during the weekend, and added that there were 144 athletes competing ‘with the assistance of over 50 volunteers from Rotary de la Manche, Jersey MenCap, staff from Otis Ltd, plus parents and friends of the Jersey Special Gymnastics Club, without whose help this could not have been the success it undeniably was.’

He also added that, unlike other events, every discipline began and ended (a rarity in special gymnastics) on time!