Lancashire County Championships 2016

by JohnH · Published February 15, 2016 · Updated March 30, 2016

Two weekends of competition at the Lancashire County Championships in Manchester hailed a new era as some of our younger swimmers competed at this level for the first time, showing great promise for the future.
Swimming in the 10/11 year age group, 10 year old Mckenzie Ronson Horrocks produced some outstanding performances including five top ten finishes and a bronze medal in the 400m Freestyle.
Also competing in this age group were 10 year olds George Wilby, Owain Heathcote-Jones and 11 year old Hannah McMillan. All swam in the 50m Freestyle, each holding their nerve to finish with excellent times.
11 year old Ace Bower was in good form in his 50m races, reaching the final of the 50m Breaststroke and finishing in an excellent 7th position.
The 12 year olds looked like old hands! George Cookson put in some very good performances with five top ten finishes and a reserve finalist place in the 100m Freestyle. Rhys Ashton was well placed in the 50 Backstroke, finishing 11th, whilst Alice Sands swam a whole range of events. With five top twenty finishes this was more great experience for Alice to build on in the future.
In the 14 year old age group, Kiera Richmond had good swims in both of her Breaststroke events and Matthew Crabtree finished in a very good 16th place in the 100m Freestyle. Thomas Dugdale swam very well indeed, reaching the final of the 100m Butterfly. An excellent swim saw him finish in 5th position.

Once again, the 15 year old girls were out in force, with three of the girls reaching the final of the 100m Backstroke: In a thrilling race, Aimee Banks claimed the bronze medal, Alex Livingstone was 4th and Ella Mounsey 6th.
Both Alex and Aimee had an excellent competition, producing a series of personal best times and top 10 finishes.
Hannah Edwards produced some solid swims, the highlights being superb performances in the heat and final of the 50m Breaststroke, with a finals finishing position of 7th.
It was great to see Sadie Spencer in good form and achieving some brilliant personal best times and three top twenty finishes.
To complete the group of 15 year old girls, Lydia- Louise Shenton in her first County Championships and Ruby Frankland, both had good swims in the 400m Freestyle.
The 16 year old boys did very well in the Freestyle events: Ben Winterburn was in super form achieving some fantastic PBs with three top twenty places; Richard Mead, an older newcomer to Level 1 competition had excellent swims in all three of his events and Chris Stainton had two good swims in the 50m and 100m Freestyle.
Holly Salisbury (16) showed determination and a return to form with some excellent races. A bronze medal in the 50m Freestyle and 5th place in the 100m Freestyle gave her a real boost!
In the Open age group, Josh Banks (17) put in a rare competition appearance in the 50m Freestyle. A fantastic swim and a 19th place finish made it a worthwhile trip for him.
Jess Shatford (17) was in great form: A 5th place finish in the 50m Breaststroke and 9th place in the 100m event were great results for Jess.
18 year old Josh Thompson had some good performances in the sprint events over the championships.

The 50m Freestyle at the beginning of Session 8 was particularly popular with Otters swimmers. You can find the other Lancashire County Championships sessions on YouTube…