Central Hawke’s Bay trampolinist Lachie Kirk continues to hit the heights

Lachie Kirk in action in the Under-22 Junior Men’s tumbling competition. Photo / WinkiPoP Media

Central Hawke’s Bay trampolinist Lachie Kirk has continued to hit the heights, travelling to the Gold Coast recently to compete in the Australian Trampoline Nationals.

Kirk qualified for the Australian Championships in November last year when he competed at the World Age Group Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he placed fifth in the double mini-trampoline category.

It had been a mission for Kirk to finally to get to the Australian Nationals to compete.

He was first selected for this competition in 2019, but due to injury was unable to attend, then subsequent cancellations due to Covid meant the competitions didn’t go ahead.

So roll onto 2023 with a lot more skills and experience under his belt and Kirk was delighted to be able to compete in all three disciplines: Senior Men’s Trampoline, Senior Men’s Double Mini Trampoline and Under-22 Junior Men’s Tumbling.

Seeing things from a different angle - Kirk on his way to eighth place in the Senior Men’s Trampoline. Photo / WinkiPoP Media

This was Kirk’s first international competition competing in the Senior Men’s grade and he says it was a great competition with some amazing athletes to compete against.

It was very full-on - the first day competing in the prelims in Double Mini Trampoline, he made the finals, coming in in fourth place (the top eight make the final), then later that evening he competed in the Individual Trampoline Prelims, again making the final, just scraping through in eighth.

Saturday was the Tumbling Prelims and Kirk came fourth overall and so was into the finals - which were only an hour after the prelims, with the top eight again going into the semifinals, then top four into the finals.

He made both and ended up coming fourth overall.

Saturday evening was the Trampoline finals, and one more great effort by Kirk as he came in eighth overall.

Sunday’s competition was the Double Mini Finals, Kirk’s favoured apparatus. He came in fourth after the semifinal and made the podium, finishing third in the finals.

Lachie Kirk with his bronze medal for his favourite discipline, the Double Mini.

Kirk says he is grateful for all the support he gets from the Central Hawke’s Bay community. “I’d just like to say thanks again for your continued support, thank you for your donations, both in money and items for the raffle, all of these made it possible for me to compete over in Australia.

“Your support and kind words mean the world to me, and I hope I’ve made you all proud. I’m already back at training working on bigger and better skills ready for the next competition.”

Kirk is currently at Canterbury University studying for a Bachelor of Commerce and has joined up with the ICE Trampoline Club in Rangiora, where he trains three nights a week.

He has been named to compete in the Portugal Trampoline Cup in July, and the Florida World Cup in August. He will not attend these competitions due to university commitments but has already qualified for the Trampoline World Championships in Birmingham in the UK in November, so he will focus on the New Zealand Nationals in July in Tauranga and then the big event in the UK later this year.