It was another early start for us as we headed to Bath for yet another trampoline competition. This was the most attended one so far, with ten people entered!

With this being my first time driving a mini-bus, I was a little
nervous with it being quite far away. We got there safely after struggling up a monster hill to get to the University of Bath’s sports centre. We were the first team there as we arrived half an hour early.

Slowly the hall started filling up and about five other universities turned up. The atmosphere was friendly and exciting.

First to bounce were the Intermediate men and women. This was the biggest category, with over 40 people competing. From Portsmouth there were four competing, Ellie Brodin-Thornhill, Suzanne Cox, Adele Penning and Josh Naden. For a couple of them it was their first competition, there were a few hiccups but every one did amazing.Josh even managed to bag 2nd place.

Next up were the Experienced women. Three of our finest competed, Amanda Follansbee, Amy Manning and myself. This category was tough, as many of the girls were very good. Amanda came in 3rd, which was well deserved.
In the Elite category Lorna Kyan, Matt Green and Al Macrae competed.

The standard of the Elite was extremely high with some of the competitors managing to make difficult moves easy. We were even surprised by a double straight back somersault and a Randy (a front somersault with 2 ½ twist in it).

The last event (only known at Bath competitions) was the Synchronised Russian Roulette. Everybody who wants to participate puts their name down and are paired up at random.
They have to then execute a routine (to the ability of the least experienced person) at the same time on adjacent trampolines.

This proved very comical, as there were some very odd pairings.
A few people couldn’t even manage to bounce in time let alone do a routine together. One Novice was even paired with an Elite! This event was a lot of fun and everyone ended up in fits of laughter at the end of every routine.

Waiting for the awards to be handed out, we decided it would be a good idea to try some acrobatics. We managed a three person high human pyramid and a couple of flying angels!

Driving home, back down the beast of a hill, caused a slight tail back as I did it at 15mph (I was afraid of turning the mini-bus over on the S bends).

Eventually we all got back home alive but very tired. Well done everyone who participated, you all did amazing!