SIX members of the Harefield Gymnastics Academy have been selected to represent Great Britain in the forthcoming World and International Age Group Championships in Glasgow.
The talented gymnasts qualified for the October event following a successful weekend of trials at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire last month.
High performance coach Natasha Maxwell, who was selected for the fourth time to coach the GB team, said: "The selectors have chosen seasoned Harefield gymnasts who have proved their worth over several internationals.
"Great Britain is second in the world behind the Russians in acrobatic gymnastics, so I look forward to some great results in Glasgow."
The British Junior Champion Women's Group of Ciara McGrath, 16, 15-year-old Sophie Burfield and Katie Smith, 14, beat off stiff opposition to claim their places. McGrath and Smith are no strangers to international competition having come seventh in the same event in 2006, the year they won team bronze in a competition in Poland and last year they won individual bronze and team silver in the European Championships. Burfield took bronze in the Flanders International Acro Cup in 2007 and the trio clinched gold in this year's Maia International Acro Cup.
The 2007 British Open Champions Grace Blacklock, 23, Claire-Louise Thompson, 22, and Hannah Feeney, 15, were chosen for the senior women's groups.
Blacklock and Thompson won gold in the Flanders International Acro Cup in 2005 and finished seventh in the 2006 World Championships, while Feeney clinched silver in the 2006 European Age Group Championships.
Rising stars Matt Short and Laura Noone came second in the junior mixed pairs at the trials, while in the junior women's pairs Rachael Prest and Poppy Spalding came fourth, as did Becca Copas and Laura Jarrett in the 11 to 16 age group women's pairs.
