There were mixed fortunes last weekend for Southampton gymnasts at the Acrobatic British Open.

This is one of the most prestigious events in the acrobatic and tumbling national calendar and for the first time was changed to an 'open' competition to attract foreign competitors in order to raise the standard of competition in this country.

Elite gymnasts from throughout Great Britain took on the best Austria and Ireland had to offer over the two days at Stoke-on-Trent.

Southampton's two junior trios of Jessica Smith, Jenny Porter and Jade Allen, and Rachael Easton, Kelly Warren and Ellen Stafford-Watson both made mistakes in their balance' and dynamic routines on the first day.

Jessica, Jenny and Jade havd to retire due to injury while Rachael, Kelly and Ellen placed fourth out of the 18 after round one before being eliminated in round two after a mistake.

But Abby Marsh and Bronnie Merrell performed excellent routines in the Open Women's Pairs to qualify for the finals, in which they produced another excellent routine to win gold.

Nyssa Jarman, Kirsty Warren and Mia Surplice were not placed in the Open Women's Groups, but Mandy Wright, Helen Briggs and Rachel Ellis did better in the Senior Women's Group.

Although they made minor errors, they qualified for the finals and pulled out all the stops to come third overall.

The highlight of the event was without doubt the performance of Helen Briggs, the club's only tumbler in the competition, in the senior women's category.

For the past two years, Helen has struggled with her training due to poor training facilities in Southampton.

The club lost its facility at Redbridge Community School when the old school was demolished but their new facility is up and running and Helen has been able to resume training on a full length international standard tumble track.

And she took her second bronze trophy with another third place. This was an incredible achievement, especially given she had to perform separate finals on the Sunday, changing her leotard on the way.

As a result, she lost some tumbling warm-up time and wasn't able to practice her full runs. But, somehow, she rose to the challenge and performed two outstanding tumble runs.

This was one of the club's best results for years, and their new facility will enable them now to focus on March's British Championships.