FOUR members of Burnley Bobcats recently took part in the the National Junior and Youth Swimming Championships and they did themselves and their club proud.

Thomas Hamer, Katie Rilett-Young, Thomas Brown and Callum Taylor travelled to Ponds Forge International Pool in Sheffield for the competition organised by Disability Sport Events (DSE) in partnership with British Swimming.

And Thomas did his hopes of reaching the Commonwealth Games by achieving a new British and World Record.

The 15-year-old, who attends Alder Grange Community Technology School in Rawtenstall swam the 200m freestyle event in a time of 1 minute 59.75 seconds breaking both the British and World Records in the S14 category. He also swam the 50m and 100m freestyle events, the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and the 200m Individual Medley and achieved personal bests in all these individual events. He was part of the North West Region freestyle and medley teams and came away at the end of the weekend with four gold, three silver and one bronze medal, not to mention his British and World Records.

Katie Rilett-Young, 15, an S6 swimmer achieved personal bests over the weekend and came away with medals in all her individual events. She won gold medals in the 200m Individual Medley and 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle events. Katie was also chosen to swim in the North West Region 4 x 100m freestyle relay team and helped bring the team home to win a bronze medal.

Thomas Brown, 14, an S14 swimmer, came away with a silver medal in the 100m Individual Medley and swam all personal bests in his other events the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 200m Individual Medley – knocking huge amounts of time off his previous times.

Meanwhile, Callum Taylor, 15, a new member to Burnley Bobcats who only began his training with the squad just over six months ago, thoroughly enjoyed the experience of swimming at his first competitive gala at this level. Callum, who has only just recently been categorised as an S9 swimmer, achieved a seven second pb in his 50m freestyle race and swam the 100m backstroke event. All the swimmers regularly train at the St Peters Centre, Burnley under Head Coach, Mike Robinson.

He said: “Thomas breaking a world record was an outstanding achievement, but was so well deserved after all his hard work. “All the swimmers performed exceptional well and all came away with personal bests”.

The Championships were a huge success with 18 British, 11 European and 8 World Records broken during the weekend with over 200 disabled swimmers participating and Paralympic medalists in attendance and breaking records.

The National Junior and Youth Swimming Championships are an opportunity for the best youngsters to compete over a 25m short course.

For further details about joining Burnley Bobcats visit www.burnleybobcats.org.uk, where you will find all the information you need.