A SMALL team of Halton swimmers competed at the recent Blackpool Lights Gala held at the Palatine Leisure Centre.

Sam Shurie produced a great performance once again claiming five golds in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke and the 100m and 200m freestyle events.

Sam also claimed a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly and received a speeding ticket in the 100m individual medley.

To top off Sam’s weekend he also claimed four new personal best times to help maintain his recent run of impressive results.

Cerys Neil claimed three golds in the 100m and 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke and finished in second place in the 100m backstroke.

Emmie Brownlow won a gold medal in the 50m freestyle and claimed bronze medals in the 100m freestyle, 200 individual medley and 100m butterfly.

Emmie produced PB’s in the 50m breaststroke and 100m backstroke.

Alex Booth claimed new personal best times in the 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle and the 100m butterfly whilst Hannah Forsyth knocked over eleven seconds her 100m individual medley time. Hannah also competed in the 50m freestyle and 200m breaststroke.

Sam Hyland claimed a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke and speeded through the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle and the 100m individual medley.

Ellie-Jo Hughes won a gold medal in the 100m individual medley and bronze in the 50m freestyle whilst speeding in the 100m backstroke.

Ellie-Jo also competed in the 50m breaststroke finishing in seventh place.

Meanwhile Halton Swimming Club’s senior squad competed in round two of the Arena League which was held at the Broughton Leisure Centre in Salford.

Halton were looking to replicate their fine win in the first round at the same venue but were unlucky to suffer some withdrawals leaving a depleted squad to compete against some very strong opposition.

After a tough start to the gala in the relay events, things improved in the individual events with five wins and seven second place finishes. With three second place finishes in the final relay races to lift the points tally, Halton finished in fourth place with a total of 167 points. Halton finished in 7th place overall out of eighteen teams with a total of 360 points, missing out on the Top Final by three points.

They now go into the Middle Final ranked as top seeds. The final is to be held at the Kendal Leisure Centre on the 9 December and Halton will be hoping to field their strongest team to help them claim the Middle Final title.

Halton Swimming Club’s junior squad competed at the annual Echo Cup Competition at the weekend which was held at Everton Park. A very inexperienced mixed team consisting of nine to twelve year olds were trying to go one better than the 2016 team and win the competition for the first time but with Southport and Everton fielding very strong teams it was always going to be a tall order with such a relatively new team.

Halton go off to a decent enough start and were in second place after twenty events, two points clear of Everton in third and just behind Southport. Southport continued to increase the gap between first and second place with Everton eventually overtaking Halton, relegating them into third place.

This was a great performance from Halton’s youngsters who had been training for this event over the past few months and who had performed well in the two qualifying rounds to enable them to compete in the final. This experience should stand them in good stead for future events and they will be hoping to go one better next year and if they continue to work hard, possibly challenge Southport for top spot.

Final results shown: 1, Southport SC 330, 2, Everton SA

251, 3, Halton & Runcorn SC 238, 4, Ormskirk Otters SC

219, 5, Prescot SC 192, 5, Hoylake ASC 192, 7, Crosby SC 191, 8 Liverpool Penguin SC 136.