It was a new venue for us again for the mid-year grading competition - off to visit Aero Kinetics at Peterborough. They managed to turn on the weather for us AND arrange a Lancaster fly-past. Now that's what I call planning. Nightflyers sent along a team of 16 competitors, of whom 7 had never competed before, so nerves were jangling a bit.
Charlotte, Katie and Lucy kicked off the day for us, with Katie putting in an especially good set routine. Sadly, Charlotte messed her vol up a bit and Katie slipped marginally down the rankings to finish just outside the medals, but in a highly creditable 4th place. Next up was Junior, who did a great job landing our first trophy with a well deserved 1st place at his first ever competition.
Then 'the gang' arrived - six little dynamos of trouble who proceeded to dominate the under 11 girls H with a great series of set routines that left them well positioned for at least 2 trophies. A couple of slips in the second routines though meant disappointment for Gabi and Amber, however Molly hung on in there for a 3rd place. They all went home with team medals though - well done all of you.
On to the afternoon, and another first outing for Rebecca who completed a couple of tidy routines to finish a respectable 5th. She was followed by the over 15s team of Mandie, Tuesdea and Bronwyn who put in solid performances at grade F. Despite only recently returning to competition after a bit of a break, Bronwyn impressed us all with her 2nd place finish. Rounding off the competition for us in the afternoon was Sophie (7th) and in only her 2nd competition, Madeline who achieved an impressive 1st place in the U15 Grade H. So, well done to everyone who competed - lets see a whole lot more of you at the October comp please! A great big thank you to Aero Kinetics for organising the event, our two volunteer recorders, and to Toni & Helen for their gentle words of encouragement (or in Toni's case, yelling 'TUCK' when someone forgot what they were doing, 'cos we forgot to gaffa tape her mouth up!)