Sixteen young Otter swimmers headed to Bolton One Leisure Centre, to compete for their respective schools in the ‘English Schools Swimming Association’ North West Individual Championships, the clubs swimmers were in fine early season form triumphing in many races, and being highly placed in many others, as the impressive Bolton One’s pool clearly suited them and they continued to post P/B after P/B.

Derrick Miller head coach and two of his coach team David Beswick and Jane Davies accompanied the swimmers they were delighted with all the swimmers performances, Derrick said “this is a high quality event and our Otter swimmers excelled in each race, they came away with a clutch of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for their schools, I was very impressed with their positive attitude both in and out of the water, they were a credit to both their schools and this club, we train up to four times a week and target our training to be both efficient and effective, and when all that training comes off in such spectacular fashion I  and the coach team couldn’t be more pleased for them.

Swimmers who competed were:

Harris Clegg who competed in three events (100F/S, 50 Fly, 50 B/S) Won 3 Golds and is now the English Schools North West champion in all three events.

Stevie Hacking who competed in two events (50 F/S. 50 B/S) Won 2 Golds and is now English Schools North West champion in those events.

William Crisp who competed in two events (100B/S, 50 F/S) Won 1 Gold and (P/b in the other race) William is now an English Schools North West champion.

Edward Crisp who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 50F/S) Won a Bronze and posted a P/b in other race.

Jarvis Davis who competed in 1 event (100B/S) Won a Silver.

Arielle Methven who competed in 3 events (100B/S, 50F/S, 50B/S) Won a Bronze and posted P/b’s in the other races.

Laila Wardle who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 50Fly) posting P/b’s in both races.

Joshua Bleasdale who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 100 B/S) posting P/b’s in both races.

Ryan Wardle who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 100B/S) posting P/b’s in both races.

Oliver Ward who competed in 2 events (50F/S, 100B/S) posting P/b’s in both races.

Emily Robertson who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 100B/S) posting P/b’s in both races.

Ella Grimshaw who competed in 4 events (100F/S, 100B/S, 50F/S, 50B/S) claiming a 4th place in 100F/S and posting P/b’s in the other races.

Mae Anderson who competed in 2 events (50Fly, 50F/S) posting P/b’s in both races.

Georgia Beswick who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 100B/S) a P/b and claiming a 5th place in a very tough and close group race, also P/b in other race.

Sophie Donovan who competed in 3 events (100F/S, 100B/S, 50F/S) posting P/b’s in all three races.

Natasha Barker who competed in 2 events (100F/S, 100B/S) posting two very good season P/b’s.

Great Harwood Otter Swimming Club held our Annual Presentation and Family Disco night at Great Harwood Cricket club, the evening was filled with Swimmer Awards, Dancing, Quizzes and Fun Games and a fantastic night was had by all who attended.

After the serious business of awarding our talented swimmers their awards we thanked and presented our volunteer coach team with flowers and chocolates.

Head Coach Derrick Miller said ‘our Otter swimmers are excelling in training and this bodes well for the upcoming season’

On the night a clutch of ‘Special Awards’ were presented

Allan & Ann Maddoc Novice Shield

Boy Winner  Cooper Baron

Girl Winner  Elouise Scales

F.J. Neale Endeavour Trophy

Boy Winner  Ryan Wardle

Girl Winner  Katie Lambert

Coaches Award

Boy Winner  William Crisp

Girl Winner  Ella Grimshaw

Merit Awards

Cubs  Jack Whittaker

1st Group  Laila Wardle

Top Group  Emily Thomas

Cubs Award

Top Boy Cub  Thomas Dignan

Top Girl Cub  Eliza Wall