Swimming away with it

Oldham Aquatics scooped a hatful of medals at the Burnley Bobcats Regional Qualifier Meet.

The event at Darwen Leisure Centre between March 7 and 8 was the last chance for the squad, which includes swimmers from Tameside, to post qualifying times for the Swim England North West Summer Regional Championships.

Oldham, who train at the OCL-run leisure centre in Middleton Road, won their first gold when Benjamin Tilston (pictured), 12, completed the 400m Individual Medley in 5:55.33.

He later doubled his tally by finishing first in the 400m Freestyle in a new personal best of 5:04.21.

James Howard, 14, won six medals across the weekend including a hat- trick of golds in the 400m Freestyle, 50m and 100m Butterfly.

He also won a pair of silvers – in the 100m Free and 200m Individual Medley – plus bronze in the 200m Free ahead of team-mate Jake Cooper in fourth.

Jake won four medals – silver in the 50m Backstroke and 400m IM as well as bronze in the 50m Free and 100m Back.

Daniel Croft, Ruby Mills and Alex Campbell all won 100m Back gold in their respective ages as they won 13 medals between them.

Daniel and Alex also both finished first in the 50m and 200m Back to complete a golden Backstroke hat-trick.

Alex competed in the Boys 15 Years/Over alongside Kian Tevlin, who won silver in the 200m Back, and also won 50m Fly silver and 100m Fly bronze.

Daniel, 12, also won 100m Free silver and 50m Free bronze, while Ruby’s other medals came in the Girls 15 Years/Over 50m Back (second) and 200m Back (third).

A new 30 second personal best in the 400m IM for Lana Draper saw her win bronze in the Girls 12 Years.

After the success Oldham had many qualifiers for Regionals, which was due to start on March 28 but was cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

By Matthew Lees