An eleven-year-old girl from Alness has made history in her gymnastics club after winning ‘overall champion’ at a national competition.
Fyrish Gymnastics is only one out of a handful of clubs in the Highlands that offer the sport, but the group have gained a name for themselves after placing highly in competitions across the country.
Leila-Rose MacLeay has been in the club since she was six, but only started performing competitively in the last two years.
She swept up the title of ‘overall champion’ within her age group at the Women’s Artistic Preparation 1 and 2 competition last month.
Success across the whole team
In the competition, which took place on May 25 and 26, nine gymnasts from the club won an outstanding collective total of 14 medals.
The four-piece contest in Motherwell had the gymnasts perform across floor, beam, vault and bars.
Alison MacLeay, Leila-Rose’s mother, said her daughter was “so surprised” when the awards were announced.
She said: “It’s the first time anyone from Fyrish qualified so high within their grade.
“They started to call out the awards and, as it went on, in her wee head she thought she didn’t place.
“And then they called her name out for first place and her mouth fell wide open. She was so surprised.”
Leila-Rose was awarded ‘highland champion’ in Inverness two years ago, and won 5th ‘overall champion’ last year out of 64 gymnasts.
At last month’s Motherwell competition, Leila-Rose also notably won 1st on beam and 3rd on vault as well as high scores in other areas against gymnasts in her age group.
‘She’s so proud of her heritage’
Alison felt especially proud due to her daughter’s background and upbringing.
She added: “I just think it’s really a credit to her, as well as me and the rest of my family. She’s only ever had me in her life.
“Up here she’s a minority – she’s so proud of herself and her heritage.
“She’s just excelled in everything she does and is such a brilliant, humble little person.”
Alison praised the “amazing” coaches, as well as the whole team who did “brilliantly”.
Among the outstanding performances of the team were Molly Robertson (2nd on floor and 5th overall), Gracie MacLennan (3rd on beam), Robyn Taylor (2nd on beam and 4th overall) and Marcie MacRae (3rd on bars). Other notable performances were from Kallie McTaggart, Isla MacLeay, Orla Stuart and Harper McWilliams.
Fyrish Gymnastics treasurer Val Houston said: “We are very proud of them, they have all worked very hard in the lead up to this competition with many of them placing in the top 10.
“The day went without a hitch, with proud coach Darcie giving lots of encouragement to her gymnasts.
“We are looking for relief coaches across all levels to work with us, so please get in touch with us if you are interested in joining our team.”
