Evening Star, Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Wheelers in a spin at taster session
| Gym club opens its doors | ||||
| HAMSTERS exercising
in a spinning wheel - well not quite! But the sport of wheel gymnastics
looks remarkably similar. In a bid to promote the sport, the Torwood Wheelers club - the only one in England that teaches rhoenrads - held a training day and taster session at Rendlesham Sports Centre. In addition to its own members, the club welcomed two people from Guildford and two 16-year-old girls from Blackpool, one of whom won the training day as a prize in a gymnastic magazine competition. Member John Colles said: "It was a very successful day and everybody really enjoyed themselves. "The two girls from Blackpool took to it quite well and were naturals. "Unfortunatcly we didn't have as many people turn up as we would have liked and the problem we have is getting people interested in the sport. "The sport is open to anybody aged 16 or over and there is no age limit. Recently we even had a granny in her 70s having a go." For the training day the club had the help of Maike Both. a German instructor now living in England, who passed on her knowledge and experience, not to mention some spectacular displays of wheel control. The sport of rhoenrads. or gymnastic wheels as it is often referred to. originated in Germany in the 1920s and is now prac- |
tised in many countries, although it is virtually unheard
of in England. |
 ROLL WITH IT: Charlotte Ellis in action at the Torwood Wheelers' taster session |
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