Eighty five gymnasts from the United States and Canada will compete with 35 from Bermuda in the Bermuda Gymnastics Association’s third annual International Gymnastics Challenge at the National Training Centre in Southside next Saturday.

The United States Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs (USAIGC) have sanctioned this meet as a qualifying event for the USAIGC National International Championships to be held in Orlando in June, 2014.

The females will be competing in the USAIGC Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels as competitors from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Canada join the locals in action.

They will be competing in three sessions, the first at 9am in Copper and Bronze levels, the second at 12 noon in the Silver level and the third at 3.30 in Gold and Platinum levels.

The entire BGA competitive girls team will be taking part in the event, including the members of the NatWest Island Games team.

It is the first competition in what the BGA hope will be an exciting season for the seniors, who will be preparing for the Junior Pan American Championships in March and Commonwealth Games in July.

The younger members of the Bermuda team also have a busy season ahead with competitions in Manhattan, Chicago and Pennsylvania as well as the USAIGC Nationals in Orlando.

The BGA are planning to send a small team to a competition in South Africa in February.