Last Saturday morning I was in Koromiko Street in Judea to place my usual flutter on the horses when I spied a large number of cars outside the Argos Gym.

Being inquisitive, I made it my business to find out what was happening. I smelt a Western Bay sports story.
Taking place on the weekend at the Argos Gymnastic Club was the Midlands Senior Gymnastic Competition (Level Four - Eight) for men and women.
It was another successful weekend for a number of ARGOS gymnasts, who competed against 125 other gymnasts from around the North Island. The event is one of many gymnasts enter as a build up to qualify for the National Championships at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, September 26-30, 2009.
In the men's section gymnasts competed on six different apparatus being Floor, Pommel, Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars and High Bar, with ARGOS members performing with distinction.
In Level Four Eric Stratton was fourth overall, with 2nds on Pommel, P Bar and Rings, with Ryan McCormick 3rd on the Parallel Bar. In the Level Five competition, Joshua Ormrod finished fourth overall, with 2nd on Pommel and 3rd P Bar.
The senior section two-day competition saw gymnasts compete on day one for individual all-round and team titles, with the second day being apparatus finals.
Two ARGOS men competed in the Level Seven competition with outstanding results. On day one Brandon Westnedge was first, with Scott Butler finishing in second place. In the day two competitions Brandon placed 1st on Floor and Vault, 2nd on Pommel, P Bar and H Bar and 3rd on Rings, while Scott was 1st on Pommel, Rings and H Bar and 2nd on Floor.
The women gymnasts competed on four different apparatus being the Vault, Bar, Beam and Floor.
The ARGOS Level four women performed well, with Alice Houghton 3rd on Vault, Lucy Houghton 2nd on Floor and Lauren Sobye 3rd on Beam.
Western Bay of Plenty gymnasts in Level Five competition finished in the top dozen with Anna Cunningham 5th, Tayla Smith 10th, Bailee Eastlake (Te Puke) 11th and Briana Hair 12th. The ARGOS girls took out the third place team medal.
Success in the women's Level Six event came with a win for Chelsea Barns, and Samara Maxwell finishing third. Chelsea was 2nd on Vault and Bar and 3rd on Floor with Samara 1st on Bar.
On day one of the two-day Level Seven, Anya Duyvestyn placed second overall with Ebony Matenga first overall in Level Eight. On the second day of apparatus finals, Anya placed 3rd on Bar and Floor. Ebony, who returned to competition after a short time of retirement, had some outstanding results on each of the apparatus.
The next competition for many of the ARGOS club gymnasts will be the Auckland/Manukau Open on 1st and 2nd.August.
Thank you to Christine Barns from ARGOS who supplied the excellent results achieved by the Western Bay competitors.