Brookmans Park schoolboy, David Fraser, has won a gold medal for gymnastics in only his second major competition.

David, a member of the Marriot’s Gymnastics Elite Boys Squad took top prize on Sunday 16 March at the East Region Set Work Qualifiers in Ipswich.

David, was entered in the P4 Under Age category, which is for boys born in 2000, to gain competition experience after putting in a good performance in the London Open earlier in the month.

As well as winning the overall gold he finished first in four of the disciplines – pommel, rings, vault and PPP – and runner up in three more - floor, parallel bars and high bar.

The result was a double delight for David because his team mate and good friend, Tom Clements of Stevenage, took the runner spot.

The qualifier is held every year and the top competitors form the eastern squad for the national championships, held in Newcastle in May.

His coach explained that the Eastern Counties are the strongest region in the country and normally win the team medal, as well picking up a number of individual medals.

So anyone representing the Eastern Region has a good chance of a medal at national level. Sadly for David, the national championships don’t have an under age competition so he will have to wait another year, when he’ll have it all to do again.

David, who attends Lochinver House School, has been training at gymnastics from a very early age and he has been a member of the Marriotts squad for the last two years.

His exhaustive training regime sees him travelling up to Marriotts Gym in Stevenage four times a week, where he trains for up to three hours at a time. But David thoroughly enjoys the training and even on his days off he can be found swinging upside down from a branch or a climbing frame.

19 March 2008