IRV Vice Presidents visited Danish Open in Sønderborg

Sønderborg and the Humlehøjhallen sports hall were once again the setting for an international Wheel Gymnastics event. On 5 November almost 100 gymnasts from Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland revived the wonderful atmosphere of the World Championships held at the same location earlier this year and filled the sports hall with rolling wheels, happy faces and great routines.

Two Executive Board members of the IRV, Vice Presidents Maria Sollohub and Günter Fischer, used their visit for a Meet & Exchange with the organisers as well as with the many national and international gymnasts, coaches and judges present at the event. Together with their IRV colleagues, Katharina Heymann and Alexander Müller, they also used the opportunity to present an overdue thank-you gift to Edgar Claussen and his team (the local organisers of the World Championships and the Danish Open). Many thanks to Edgar, Imke, Susanne, Jörn and Marion, together with their extensive team of helpers, for their contribution to building the international wheel gymnastics community.

Other activities during the weekend included a test of the new CoP2023+ music regulations against the current (but soon expiring) regulations (thank you also to Svenja and Simon for your help), congratulations to Hans Pichler on his 77th birthday, presentation of trophies during the award ceremony and – in general – an opportunity to answer questions and listen to “what’s going on” in the world of Wheel Gymnastics.

All in all, it was an extremely fruitful visit where we were able to experience first-hand the importance of having an IRV presence at international wheel gymnastics events whenever possible. We look forward to continuing this practice in the future and would like to express our appreciation towards the local organisers of all such events – the next such opportunities will be the Austrian Open at the end of November this year and the Belgian Open in early April 2023.