Louth Swimming Club juniors excel in North of England finals

The Louth team are upbeat as they prepare to head off for the regional finals EMN-191014-121106002

The achievement earned the young swimmers, aged nine to 12 years a coveted place in the Northern Regional Final.

Having triumphed over local teams including Lincoln Vulcans, Lincoln Trident, CADS, Scunthorpe and Grantham, a jubilant coach-full of supporters and swimmers made their way to John Charles Leisure Centre in Leeds.

Louth team manager Charlotte Elliott-Wright said: “They are a fantastic team of swimmers, and we at the club are incredibly proud of them.

Louth coaches and swimmers at Leeds EMN-191014-121055002

“It is a major achievement in our swimming year to qualify to swim against clubs from cities such as Leeds and Newcastle.”

In the regional final, Louth found themselves competing against clubs from Leeds, Stockport Metro, Southport, Leamington Spa and Newcastle.

All of the Louth swimmers performed well, with great swims from club newcomer Evie Dickinson (11) who came second in her age group and third in the 12-year age group at 50m backstroke.

There was a third place finish for 10-year-old Helena Field in the individual 50m front crawl and breaststroke, while Harry Milne (11) also gained third place in his 50m front crawl.

And first timer in this team event, Sophie Cooksey (9) also achieved third place in her 50m backstroke.

There was further success for Louth’s relay teams.

The girls’ nine-year-old front crawl 4x25m team and the 11-years 4x25m medley team both gained epic third places in their respective races.

Louth swimmers also gained very respectable fourth-place finishes in a further eight races.

The final results on the day saw Louth finish in sixth place with 101 points, behind Newcastle in fifth (153 points), fourth-placed Southport (158pts), third-placed Stockport Metro (167pts), runners-up Leamington Spa (175pts) and winners Leeds with 273 points.

The top four teams now go forward to the national final.

All of the swimmers and supporters enjoyed their trip to Leeds, with supporters in fine voice, enthusiastically cheering on the young Louth swimmers.

Charlotte added: “It was such a great achievement for our little swimmers who come from a 100 per cent volunteer-run small town club who also have the least amount of training time compared to all the other teams that participated from big towns and cities.”