2017 National Men's & Women's Artistic Championships - World Class Gymnastics in a World Class Venue
16th May 2017, 00:00a.m. | National Series
13th & 14th May 2017; National Indoor Arena, Dublin: World Cup finalist Andrew Smith and European Junior Medallist Rhys McCleneghan were among the 400 gymnasts who competed over the weekend.
During Saturday’s event teenager Rhys McClenaghan, the rising star of Gymnastics Ireland, who competes for Rathgael GC, added his first National Senior All -Around title to his growing honours hitting high in his specialist apparatus pommel horse with a mark of 14.65. McClenaghan, still only 17, won European Junior Bronze on the pommel last year. His strong performances on vault and floor put him three points clear of Adam Steele of Douglas GC (Cork) and his Rathgeal teammate Ewan McAteer in bronze.
Rathgeal's Meaghan Smith became the new Irish Senior Women's All-Aound Champion but won gold by just .6 of a point from Tara Donnelly of DPGC, with her sister Chloe taking bronze.
CEO of Gymnastics Ireland Mr. Ciaran Gallagher commented 'We were very proud to present a World Cup level standard arena set-up for our 2017 National Men's & Women's Championships. It was our first outing in the athletics arena section of the National Indoor Arena (NIA) so the many learnings taken from the weekends competition will only help us to drive forward as we constantly strive to deliver for our members national events of a world class standard. My huge congratulations to all our 2017 National champions & medallists. We now look forward to the Women's Level 2-4 All Around competition and the Acrobatics & Trampoline National Championships. All these events are leading up to our new flagship competitive event 'The National Series Super Championships' which will be held from 30th June - 2nd July in the NIA. This event will see the top gymnasts from all disciplines and all levels compete in what no doubt will become one of the Irish sporting highlights of the year.'
Two Douglas GC athletes - Jaydon Attygalle and Meg Ryan - won the National Junior All-Around titles and Blathaid Higgins of Renmore (Galway) is the new Irish Minor All-Around champion.
Gymnastics Ireland also launched gymnasticsirelandscores.com which proved to be a huge success. For the first time we have been able to provide live scoring online.
Some Highlight of Results:
Men Senior Men - 1 R McClenaghan (Rathgael) 79.75 pts, 2 A Steele (Douglas) 76.682, 3 E McAteer (Rathgael) 70.783. Junior - 1 J Attygalle (Douglas) 63.983, 2 K Hilton (Rathgael) 63.100, 3 P Lowe (Phoenix) 60.700.
Women Senior - 1 M Smith (Rathgael) 47.561, 2 T Donnelly (DP) 46.964, 3 C Donnelly (DP) 45.300. Junior - 1 M Ryan (Douglas) 50.327, 2 E Slevin (Renmore) 47.914, 3 K Molloy (Renmore) 46.617. Minor - 1 B Higgins (Renmore) 43.948, 2 L Ly (Salto) 41.344, 3 A Corbett (Salto) 41.201.
For full results click here…
May will continue to be a busy month for Gymnastics Ireland where two weekends in a row of competitions.
On 20th & 21st May is our Women's Artistic National Levels 2-4 All Around Championships
27th & 28th May we will have our Acrobatics National Championships & Trampoline, Tumbling National Championships
If you would like to come and watch any of our competitions keep an eye on our website for spectator information. Remember to follow us and share with us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter #Gymasticsireland #SportStartsHere #NationalSeries #SportIreland #NationalndoorArena