SWIMMING: TEENAGE swimmer Peter Hall nearly had the whistle blown on his bid to become a national champion last week.
The 14-year-old Queen's Park High School pupil had a comfortable lead in the Age Group Championships in Sheff ield when he thought he heard a whistle which would have signalled there were two of the 30 lengths to go.
Peter, a member of the City of Chester Swimming Club, started sprinting to the finish and was about five seconds clear when he stopped.
But when his nearest rival had almost caught up, he realised there were still four lengths to go and he faced a frantic race before snatching the gold medal in a new record time of 16 minutes 30.66 seconds, which could earn him a place on the World Class potential programme.
He said: 'I was well in control until I thought I heard the whistle. It was like a nightmare because I thought I had finished and was tired, but I managed to hold on.'
Peter trains eight times a week under club coach Stuart Clamp and aims to break the British junior record of 15 minutes 53 seconds.
He has some way to go but his PB time has come down by 30 seconds this year and he still has two years left.
