Year 10 Great Sankey High School students Lottie Cahill and Alex Marshall, both members of Finesse Rhythmic Gymnastics Club in Widnes where they are coached by former Great Sankey pupil Laura Hogg, joined three girls from Fylde Coast RGC in Lytham to form a winning team. Mix.
The five split their training between both clubs and their dedication has paid off big.
They have successfully tried out at Lilleshall Hall National Sports Center to represent Great Britain in some of the major competitions around the world.
April saw them win two gold medals at the British Open, in the five-ball and five-ropes disciplines.
This led to them competing for GB at the 30th Portimao International in Portugal.
This experience served as perfect preparation for the 39th European Rhythmic Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, a month later.
They were the first junior group from GB to compete in the event for 13 years.
Back home again, they were England’s 1 team at the Homes Nations in Cardiff, where they won team gold as well as gold in the five ropes and silver in the five balls.
In June, they won triple gold medals at the English Rhythmic Championships, in the five-hoops and five-ball disciplines and also the all-around.
This led to them making history as the first British team to qualify for the World Junior Rhythmic Championships, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in July.
Unfortunately, the World Championships were scheduled to be played on the same weekend as the British Championships, so the team they had been beating all year were crowned British Champions.
At this point, after such a difficult period, Alex and Lucy Taylor chose to step down as they would find the harsh training regime too difficult to keep up with school work in Years 10 and 11.
Lottie decides to continue with Evie Baez and Tallulah Crabtree, but because Evie is a year older, they can no longer compete as juniors and move up to the senior level, having been joined by two newcomers to the group.
They are taking this year to practice new routines with the aim of competing in international competitions next year, and have a dream of again going to Europe and the world as well as the ultimate goal of making it to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.