IT has been another hugely successful year for Burnley Bobcats Swimming Club who have starred on the county, regional and national stage.

From the Bobkittens to the Bobcats, the club is going from strength to strength and now competes on an equal level against bigger and more established clubs across the north of England.

To underline their talent at the top, nine members of the club are among 19 swimmers who form the national squad.

The squad headed over to Sheffield to compete at the British Summer Championships and the ASA Summer Nationals at Ponds Forge.

The swimmers competed in ages ranging from 14 to 18 years who all trained with the national squad prior to the prestigious competition before their summer break.

The swimmers who took part were Katie Rennolds, William Beaven, Miranda Bower, Tom Brown, Alice Fox, Josh Lambert, Thomas Mackay, Harry Pilkington and Hannah Raistrick.

Head Coach at Bobcats, Noel Horton said: “To have nearly half of the National squad compete is a fantastic achievement.

“Three swimmers competed at the British Summer Champs and are ranked in the top 24 in the country with the rest of the swimmers enjoying the experience of the ASA Summer National event, with swimmers reaching the finals at both competitions and moving further up the rankings.”

He added: “All swimmers have trained exceptionally hard this season and have been ultimately rewarded by achieving high ranking positions to compete at these two competitions.”

While Noel was with the National swimmers, Assistant Coach Craig Lord coached the training sessions at the St Peters Centre pool, Burnley.

Bobcats has four coaching groups for their 80 plus members:

n Bobkittens – these young swimmers train every Friday evening and are regularly swimmers with feeder clubs Burnley Aquatics, Clitheroe Dolphins, Blackburn Centurians and Colne Amateur Swimming Club.

n County Squad – these swimmers have the choice of attending seven training sessions, plus still attending their club sessions, both morning and evening throughout the week and aim to compete at the Lancashire County Championships and progress to the regional squad.

n Regional squad – these swimmers are working towards qualifying for the North West Regional Swimming Championships and have the opportunity to train eight times a week and take part in land training sessions with the aim of progressing to the National Squad and regularly attend all competitions from Level 3 to Level 1.

n National Squad – these swimmers aim for Winter short course British Championships and the Summer British Championships and the ASA National Summer competition in July/August every year.

Both Horton and Lord have a full schedule of competitions planned for the start of the new season in September with competitions organised for all the different abilities of the swimmers from Level 3 short course to Level 1 long course competitions, for which they train at the Manchester Aquatics long course (50m) pool in Manchester once per month.

Team Captain, Katie Rennolds, 18, recently won the title of Rising Star at the Burnley Community Sports Awards with Mandy Brown winning the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award at the same ceremony.

The squad has two members who compete regularly at the British Disability Swimming events and 18 year ex-Bobcat Thomas Hamer will be competing at the Rio Olympics 2016 in the Multi-Class Disability events.

The Burnley Bobcats Committee is run entirely by a dedicated and committed group of parents who help to organise swim camps, both in the UK and abroad and hold fund raising and fun activities to support the club.

The club also offers three different sponsorship packages for anyone interesting in sponsoring the club, all details of which can be found on their website www.burneybobcats.org.uk.

Bobcats will resume their training for the new season on Wednesday, August 31 2016 but for now it’s time to relax over their summer break.

For further details and information about Burnley Bobcats Swimming Club visit www.burnleybobcats.org.uk