Narrabri resident Olwyn Campey is beaming with pride after her grandson competed at the Australian National Gymnastics Championships as part of the Queensland Mens Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) team.
Thirteen-year-old Caedan McIlhatton, son of ex-Narrabri resident Stacey Shields, travelled to the Gold Coast in mid-May to participate in the competition.
Here, he faced off against other gymnasts from across the country in the 15 and under section.
Despite being two years younger than some of the competitors, Caedan won the top prize and was crowned the best in Australia for the age group.
The MAG competition consisted of six apparatus: rings, floor, parallel bars, pommel, vault and horizontal bar.
This competition lasted two days, with the scores for day one and day two combining to determine the end result.
As well as receiving the highest all-around score, which gave him the gold medal for all-around gymnast and the national champion title, Caedan also took out the top spot in a number of the apparatus.
He won the gold medal for his parallel bars and vault routines, which gave him the title of national champion for those two apparatus.
Caedan also won the silver medal for his rings and pommel routines.
Ms Campey describes herself as ‘a very proud grandma’ and says Caedan’s win is the result of a lot of hard work.
“He does a huge amount of training and really has no social life,” she said.
Ms Shields, Caedan’s mum and Ms Campey’s daughter, says she’s also immensely proud of the young gymnast.
“He trains 29 hours a week, so it was great for his hard work to pay off,” she said.
“Plus, the wins allow him to participate in some national training camps at AIS in Canberra, which is a great opportunity for Caedan.”
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Caedan McIlhatton with his new championship medals.
