North Lancashire Championships 2006

The swimmers from Preston Swimming Club descended on the Palatine Pool in Blackpool for the annual North Lancashire Age Group & Youth Championships. After a phenomenal 3 days competition Preston swimmers returned home with a mind blowing 61 gold, 38 silver & 48 bronze medals. No fewer than 34 swimmers finished in the top ten for their respective BAGCAT age group, badge award winners with those finishing in the top six receiving a special badge for their efforts.

Matthew Rosbottom (9); Shauntelle Austin (9); Cameron Austin (11); Florie McLeish (11) and Justin Austin (14) all won their respective age groups.

Chief Coach Dave Fairhurst said : The implementation of the new programme a couple of years ago is now starting to pay off, my thanks go to all the swimmers who have worked ever so hard for this competition, their achievements and the personal best count is a fantastic result. I would also like to thank the coaches & poolside staff who have prepared the swimmers for this meet, without them results like this cannot be achieved. We now look forward to the Lancashire Championships in March and hope for more good things from our excellent young swimmers.

In the 9 year girls Shauntelle Austin won the age group title by winning a staggering 9 gold medals, she triumphed in the 50 & 200 breastroke; 50 & 200 butterfly; 50 & 200 freestyle; 50 & 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley. Another debutant in the 9 year age group who also had a very impressive meet was Eleanor Laurence who finished 2nd overall winning gold in the 100 individual medley. in the process. Matthew Rosbottom came 1st in the 9 yr boys category putting gold medal performances in the 50 butterfly; 200 backstroke & 200 individual medley. Harry Murphy also finished in the top 10 winning gold in the 50 backstroke along the way.

In the 10yr girls there were 3 top 10 finishes from Abbey Huartson 5th; Katie Mawdsley 6th & Abbie Kitcher 8th. Huartson won gold in the 50 breastroke & silver in the 200 breastroke.

In the 11 yr boys Cameron Austin had an unbelievable championships, he won 5 golds in the 50 & 200 butterfly 200 & 400 individual medley and 50 freestyle. 3 silver in 50 & 200 backstroke and 400 freestyle and 2 bronze in the 200 & 800 freestyle. Cameron also achieved a phenomenal 5 National Qualifying Times which will see him attend the National Championships in July at Sheffield. Also in the 11 yr boy category Matthew Greenslade finished in 10th place.

In the 11 yr girls Florie McLeish continued her dominance from last year by winning a superb 8 golds, 1 silver & 1 bronze. The golds came in the 100 & 200 backstroke; 100 & 200 butterfly; 100 & 200 breastroke; the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley. Florie won silver in the 400 individual medley and was also a National Qualifying Time this means she will be joining Cameron in Sheffield. Bronze came in the 100 freestyle.

In the 12 yr old boys top ten finishes were achieved by no fewer than 5 Preston swimmers. Luke Pool 3rd, Jack Holden 4th, Matthew Clarkson 5th, Jamie McLaughlan 6th & Jack Bridge 9th. Pool won gold in the 400, 800 & 1500 freestyle; silver in the 200 butterfly and bronze in the 100 butterfly & 100 individual medley. Holden won bronze in 200 backstroke & 400 freestyle and Clarkson won silver in 200 backstroke & bronze in 100 backstroke & 200 butterfly. The 12 yr girls saw Charlotte Sinclair finish in 9th place overall, she won silver in a superb 200 breastroke swim and bronze in the 100 breastroke.

Mitiku Turnbull put in some splendid performances gaining personal best swims and finishing 7th overall in the 13 yr boys category.Preston had 4 swimmers in the top ten for the girls equivalent. Beth Shaw won silver in the 200 butterfly & bronze in the 200; 400, 800 freestyle & 100 butterfly finishing in 3rd place overall. Ellen Buckley; Eilidh McLeish & Abbe Fielding all swam well on their way to 8th; 9th & 10th respectively.

The 14 yr boys saw Preston completely dominate affairs. Justin Austin won the age group by helping himself to a fantastic medal haul of 6 golds in the 50; 100 & 200 backstroke and the 50; 100 & 200 butterfly the latter being another National Qualifying Time from a Preston swimmer & will see Justin join his younger brother Cameron & Florie McLeish in Sheffield. Justin also won silver in the 400 individual medley & bronze for the 100 breastroke & 200 freestyle. John Rainford was 2nd overall with 3 silver in the 50 breastroke, 100 freestyle & 200 individual medley and a bronze in the 200 breastroke. Dean Heaps came in, in 3rd place & he notched up gold in the 100 breastroke, silver in the 200 breastroke & bronze in 50 breastroke; 400 & 1500 freestyle. Joe Barnish made it a 1; 2; 3; 4 by completing the 4th spot thanks to 2 gold in the gruelling 800 & 1500 freestyle, silver in the 200 & 400 freestyle and bronze in the 100 & 200 backstroke and 200 & 400 individual medley. To cap off a fabulous age group result for Preston Joshua Heath swam some superb personal bests to finish in 9th place.

In the girls 14 – 17 yrs age groups Preston again ruled the water. In 3rd overall was Jenna Huartson (15) finishing with 2 silver medals in the 100 & 200 breastroke. Rebecca Hall (14) had an excellent championships finishing 4th overall and taking 4 gold in the 100 & 200 breastroke, 50 backstroke and the 200 freestyle she also won 3 silvers in 100 & 400 freestyle and 200 individual medley and 3 bronze in the 50 freestyle and 100 & 200 backstroke. 5th overall was Lisa Gorton (14) who ended the competition with 2 gold for 50 freestyle & 100 backstroke; 3 silver in the 200 freestyle and 50 & 200 butterfly and 3 bronze in the 100 & 400 freestyle & 200 individual medley. Abbey Hargreaves finished 7th overall with an impressive collection of 4 gold in 100 freestyle; 200 backstroke & the 100 & 200 butterfly, silver in the 100 backstroke and bronze in the 200 freestyle.Other medal winning performances in this category came from Beth Kington 2 gold in the 100 & 200 breastroke. Stephanie Slater also with 2 gold in the 50 butterfly & 200 individual medley. Hayley Smith won gold in the 50 breastroke and bronze in the 50 backstroke and Lois Newton won gold in 400 individual medley and silver in 50 freestyle.

The final age category the boys 15 – 18 yrs saw 3 Preston swimmers achieve overall top ten finishes. Jareth Geoghegan finished in 2nd place overall claiming 3 silver & 1 bronze along the way, Geoghegans silver came via the 50 & 200 backstroke and 200 breastroke, and the bronze was achieved in the 100 backstroke. Sterling Austin finished 5th overall and collected 3 bronze medals to his credit, these came in the 20 & 200 breastroke and the 200 backstroke. Jonathan Haggerty finished 7th overall winning 2 bronze in the 50 & 100 butterfly.

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