AN ALLOA gymnastics coach organised a virtual competition that saw more than 60 young athletes take part last weekend.

Chris Chalk arranged the event on video conferencing app Zoom, and it took place on Sunday, June 21.

A total of 68 gymnasts participated, competing across six rounds of six different gymnastics disciplines: preschool, recreational, development, floor and vault, teamgym and artistic.

Everyone who took part submitted a homemade video of their floor routine, and these were all edited together to create the competition.

Each video was sent to a qualified judge who gave the gymnasts a score out of 10 – looking for the neatest routines.

All gymnast who entered received an invite through a Zoom link to their round where they could watch the competition stream live.

And each gymnast who took part received a participation certificate by email and will collect a medal when classes return to normal.

Winners in the respective categories were as follows: Miranda Appleby, preschool; Lulu Burt, recreational; Skye McMeechan, development; Sophie Harvey, floor and vault; Katy Hynd, teamgym; and Clara Whitby, artistic.

Winners of each round were awarded a £25 leotard gift voucher.

Chris said: "This was a fantastic event which was really successful, and I never expected as many kids to enter.

"I decided to run the competition via Zoom as it was great to see the gymnasts' faces light up as they realised it was their video playing.

"All the gymnasts seemed to really enjoy competing again and it was an excellent way to get the kids motivated and engaged as it gave them something to focus on."

Chris is head coach at Central Gymnastics Academy, which is based in Stirling.