Six girls from the South Durham Gymnastics Club performed superbly at the regional finals as they collected a haul of medals while the club also picked up the overall team award, writes JOHN PHELAN.

Held in Newcastle and competing at compulsory level four which is for eight-year-olds with exercises on the vault, bars, beam, floor and conditioning, Kate Dixon of Bishop Auckland finished first to win an individual gold medal while Lucy Aitken from Easington won silver.

Rebecca Conlon from Willington won the bronze, while Laura Walker, also Willington, was fourth.

Bethany Clayton, Spennymoor, and Abigail Faye from Durham finished sixth and seventh respectively which earned the South Durham Club the team gold medal.

Kate Dixon, Lucy Aitken, Laura Walker and Rebecca Conlon now travel to Birmingham as the North of England Regional team to compete at the compulsory levels in the National Finals.

Proud coach, Rachel Wright, said: "It's a fantastic achievement for the club and the girls to make up the North of England Regional team."

At the same competition, held in the Benfield Centre for Excellence earlier this month, at level three for nine-year-olds, Beth Wayman took overall gold and Rebecca Irvin silver and will travel with two other competitors from the region to the finals.

Another success for the South Durham club is 13-year-old Amy Fossheim who has been selected to represent the Great Britain Junior team against Spain at Rushmoor at the end of this month.

"It is her first international call-up and she is the youngest member of the Great Britain team which is another fantastic achievement for her and the club," said Mrs Wright.

"All the girls train four to five nights a week at the Spennymoor Leisure Centre and their achievements are all down to the hours that they train."

l Anyone is interested in joining the club, contact Rachel Wright or Nicola Preston on (01388) 811877