BUSA Finals 2005

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On Sunday 13th March, Lee, Alex, Rob and I represented Cambridge at the BUSA finals in York.

To avoid a very early start on Sunday we all travelled to York on the Saturday afternoon. At the evening warm up session Lee, Rob and I (Alex deciding to save his energy for the big day) tested out the beds, eyed up the competition and tried to get rid of all of our bad routines before Sunday (an objective which unfortunately I don’t think any of us achieved!). After an evening of pre-competition junk food to calm our nerves (or should that be stomachs) and a night of little sleep we arrived at the freezing cold Sports Centre bright (or not as the case proved to be in some cases!) and early on Sunday morning.

I was first up in the Advanced Ladies section. A total set score of 26.4 placed me in first position going into the voluntary round. The competition was high in this round, with many girls competing somersaults with double rotation or double twists. Completing my 5.4 difficulty routine with reasonable form marks I qualified in second place for the final round of the top ten bouncers. Although I didn’t perform my best routine in the final round I managed to maintain my position, achieving 2nd place overall with a total score of 86.0. With my part over, I could now relax and watch our Cambridge guys battle it out for those top places!

The long wait (by this point the competition was running over an hour and a half behind scheduled time) was now over for Rob and Lee as they began their warm ups in the Advanced Men’s category. Unfortunately, just seconds after Rob stepped onto the trampoline, his “…dreams faded like a blue balloon floating away into a clear azure sky…” once more (see his BUSA Regional report) as he ended up showing the judges another stylish improvisation on the set routine. I’m thinking it may be worth investing in a tape recorder so that Rob can play the correct routine to himself while he’s asleep! Luckily, Lee managed to keep his head and dazzled the judges with a set routine scoring 23.8. The voluntary round saw Rob complete his new 4.1 tariff routine with great success and Lee perform his 4.7 tariff to earn himself a well-deserved spot in the top ten! After a quick warm up, Lee was up to compete his last routine, choosing risk over caution by attempting his brand new voluntary routine with a 1 ¾ somersault as the first move, equating to a difficulty of 5.6. He performed the routine very well, finishing with a total of 76.3 to take 9th place.

Last (but by no means the least entertaining!) was Alex in the Intermediate Men’s section. Some brilliant warm up routines proved Alex was well up amongst the best in his group. But disaster struck as a slip on move one of his set routine caused him to touch the frame pad of the trampoline. The disappointment of not performing your best is very difficult to shake off so unfortunately Alex didn’t manage to get back to his true form for his voluntary routine. But Alex’s day proved not to be a complete disaster after he won some much needed chocolate (both as comfort food and energy!) in the raffle.

At the end of the afternoon, we took our seats for the biggest showdown of all – the Elite Ladies and Men. The Elite Ladies included many of the girls who I actually competed against a few years ago so it was fantastic to see them all still impressing the judges with such amazing form and difficult skills. Hiroi Tokuma from Portsmouth University demonstrated incredible talent by managing to take the title of Elite Ladies Champion even when she only competed 9 moves in her final routine after a miscount. Amanda Parker and Becki Stanley were close behind her to take the runner up positions. But the best was yet to come with the Elite Men which included many of Britain’s best male trampolinists. After impressing us all with brilliant form in their set routines, Simon Milnes, Mark Alexander and Philip Dodson were already far ahead of the field. An exciting battle between the three of them for the championship title had begun. Mark competed an excellent first voluntary routine but a wobble in his final meant he had to change his routine on the spot by replacing one of his doubles with a straddle jump (so at least that meant there was one move everyone could recognise!) Philip completed two fantastic voluntary routines of 14.4 and 14.2 tariffs to secure 2nd place. Simon, performing the highest level difficulty routines (15.8 tariffs) starting with three triple somersaults, gained excellent form marks leaving everyone in no doubt as to who would be crowned the Male BUSA champion.

The day ended with the presentation as I was awarded my silver BUSA medal and Lee his certificate. Finally, tired and hungry we set off home. Overall, the BUSA final was a day of mixed results with both its disappointments and excitement but most importantly it was a very enjoyable weekend!

Kate Gladders