Labour Weekend was a labour of love for the families of two local recreational competitive gymnasts from the EBOP Gymnastic Club.

The gymnasts travelled to Manawatu Gymsport in Palmerston North for the 2024 NZ Gym Club Challenge, accompanied by their parents.

The Manawatu Club hosted all gymsport codes, with the competition running over three days.  These codes include: Gym for All, Opens and levels 3-7, as well as Team Gym, Tumbling, Trampoline, Rhythmic, Aero and Parkour.

Nineteen clubs from around New Zealand competed in various codes.

Arabella Lawerence and Chloe Fisher entered the level 5 GFA section and battled it out against 25 other gymnasts.

GFA gymnasts complete four apparatuses, with seven available to choose from.  They were scored out of 10.

Arabella performed a ring routine, which is traditionally a male apparatus, as one of her four. She also performed floor, beam and uneven bar routines.

She was the overall winner, with scores of 9.05 on uneven bars (second place), 9.2 on beam (second), 8.5 on floor (fifth) and 9.7 on rings (first).

Chloe Fisher performed routines on the vault, uneven bar, beam and floor. Routines of consistent quality placed her fourth overall with placings of first on beam and fourth on vault and uneven bars.  Her scores were 8.95 on vault, 8.7 on uneven bar, 9.30 beam and 8.30 for her floor routine.

Proud parents and proud coaches are even more determined to continue the skill development and return next year for the 2025 challenge.

Their coach said she was proud that this small town and club, along with other clubs, could continue to develop highly skilled sportspeople in multi-sports fields.