THREE young members of the City of Chester Swimming Club have proved they are among the best in Britain.
The trio swam in the British Championships in Sheffield, which were split into two parts for young swimmers – the National Age Group Championships for 11-13 year olds and National Youth Championships for 14-18 year olds.
Isobel Thwaite, 12, competed for Chester in the age group championships, with Nicky Ball and Lucy Doherty, both 15, taking part in the youth event.
Isobel took part in no fewer than six events and finished up with two medals.
On in first day of competition, the teenager was in action in the 200m individual medley, 100m freestyle and 200m backstroke in the morning’s heats.
She qualified for both the freestyle and backstroke finals where she swam lifetime best times in both, finishing fifth in the freestyle and fourth in the backstroke. It was the best performance by a City of Chester swimmer in this age group for six years.
And Isobel was not finished there. She rounded off her debut British Championships appearance by winning bronze medals in the 100m backstroke and 400m freestyle, while also coming fifth in the 200m freestyle.
The National Youth Championships saw Chester swimmers Nicky and Lucy go head to head in their preferred backstroke events – the 100m and 200m.
In the 200m, both girls paid the price for starting too fast and failed to progress.
But in the 100m, the Chester pair swam lifetime best times in the heats and advanced to the semi-finals. And while Nicky failed to book her final place, Lucy qualified in another personal best time and went on to finish ninth in the final, again in a lifetime best time.
Chester chief coach Lee Holland said: “We have made some positive changes over the summer in order to ensure that we have more swimmers competing at this level of competition next season.”
City of Chester Swimming Club want to secure links with any businesses in the area that may be interested in supporting them.
Anyone interested should email cocsc.chiefcoach@hotmail.co.uk.
