Gymnasts from Deerness Gymnastics Academy in Durham have helped the club make it into the Guinness Book of World Records for 2018 after they set a new world record on a children’s TV show.
The 2018 Guinness Book of World Records is now on sale and includes a record set by four northeast gymnasts from the popular gymnastics club near Durham who hold the record for “Most Skips Over a Human Skipping Rope”.
This record was set by Acropolis at Durham Cathedral when they appeared on the CBBC TV Show Officially Amazing.
The human skipping rope move is used in competitive acrobatic gymnastics at the very highest level. Four acrobats perform the skipping rope move, where two people hold the arms and feet of another person who is the ‘rope’ and then the fourth person jumps over the rope as they are swung around in circles – just like a skipping rope.
The World Record Holders are Jesse Heskett, Georgia Hewison, Liam Sneath and Angus Martin. Watch them break the world record at Durham Cathedral here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/officially-amazing-goes-bunkers-sp2-human-skipping
Georgia Hewison, age 12, was the ‘rope’ in the world record attempt. She said:
“I’m so thrilled to be a Guinness World Record Holder and now to be in the book as well. The skipping rope is an acrobatic move that we have performed many times in our Acropolis shows. I’m used to being the rope but I’ve never been jumped over that many times before.”
The Guinness Book of World Records is one of the most well-known titles in the world, during the past 63 years it has sold over 138 million copies
“Deerness Gymnastics Academy is very proud as a gymnastics club to be World Record Holders and listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for 2018. This is an activity that is part of our everyday sport. The skipping rope is a move that we regularly perform in acrobatic gymnastics – just not for quite as long as a minute,” said Stuart Thompson, Acropolis coach and head of acrobatics at Deerness Gymnastics Academy. “It takes hard work, dedication and patience to be the best, and this is a great achievement by our gymnasts.”
The gymnasts are all elite acrobats from Deerness Gymnastics Academy in Durham. They also perform as Acropolis helping to raise valuable funds for their gymnastics club. Prior to this have won ITV talent show Let’s Get Gold, were runners-up in an international talent show on French TV called The best, appeared on SKY’s Sports Quiz show ‘A League of Their Own’ as well performed with Ashley Banjo and Diversity on two national arena tours.
Deerness Gymnastics Academy in Ushaw Moor is a high-performance centre for British Gymnastics. The club which also has its former gymnast Matt Baker as its patron and has become one of Britain’s top gymnastics clubs over the past twenty-five years, with over 100 international gymnasts with more than eighty World and European medallists, including fifteen World and European Champions in its roll of honour. It is not only one of the most successful clubs in Great Britain but it is also recognised on the International scene as one of the top clubs in the world.
There are a few remaining places on the clubs recreational gymnastics classes this autumn. For more information: www.deernessgymnastics.org.uk