PUPILS geared up for the festive period by competing in the second annual Christmas Cracker swimming competition at Christleton High School's pool.

Eight schools took part - Bishop Heber, Bishops' High, Christleton High, Chester Catholic High, Abbey Gate, The King's School, The Queen's School and Upton High.

In the Year 7 and 8 girls competitions, Queen's School came first and Christleton second with Bishops' claiming Year 7 third and Abbey Gate Year 8.

For the boys, Kings topped the Year 7 table followed by Abbey Gate and Christleton, while in Year 8 Bishops' High won with Abbey Gate again in second and King's in third.

In the individual races, Lucy Kennedy from Abbey Gate won the girls' 25m butterfly convincingly and Molly Clark from Christleton won the 50m breast-stroke by two clear seconds.

Reuben McCormack (Christleton) triumphed in the 25m butterfly in the boys' section and Ryan Lewis won the 50m backstroke by almost three seconds.

* A minute's silence was held before the event in respect of Christleton sixth form students Tristan Cook and Dominic Arnold, who recently died in a car accident.

Christleton High would like to thank volunteers Emma Jones, Emma Blair and Lucy Huddart from Bishops' High and Laura Binyon and Emma Forrest from Christleton, who helped out at short notice with duties on the day.