Full results from this year's British Gas National Age Group Championships are now on the results page.

Stockport Metro finished in 3rd place in the overall club rankings after a week of tough competition at Ponds Forge.  In total, Metro swimmers made 31 finals and claimed 9 medals (6 silver and 3 bronze).  Well done to all who competed.

Lewis Robinson has been one of Metro's most consistent performers over the last two Nationals and he finally claimed a well deserved medal by taking bronze in the 400m individual medley.  Against a very strong field Lewis took command of third place after an excellent backstroke leg and held off the other swimmers to secure his medal.  Lewis' time of 4:55.15 was over 11 seconds inside his previous best.

(Lewis Robinson with his 400 IM bronze medal)

The girls relay team (Emily Knowles-Jones, Lillie-Tew Weaver, Laura Hibbert and Lauren Mills) have also had a fantastic week and finished it off in fine style by taking silver in the 4x100m medley.  The girls have made a habit of improving greatly in the finals and today was no exception as they qualified only 5th fastest from the heats.  However, improve they did, and in perhaps the most exciting finish of the week Emily Knowles-Jones touched just ahead of Derventio Excel and Guildford City.  North West rivals City of Liverpool took the gold medal.

Frazer Riach made a strong finish to the week by taking 6th place the final of the 400 IM.  With 8 finals and 4 medals Frazer has certainly enjoyed his first visit to the National Championships!

(Frazer and his collection of medals)

Laura Hibbert provided Metro's other finalist of the day as she finished in 9th place the 400 IM.  Training partner Emily Knowles-Jones also took part in the 400 IM but failed to make it through the heats.  Lillie Tew-Weaver had also hoped to compete in the same event but again sickness denied her the opportunity to swim.

Harrison Coulter and Joe Mitchell also saw action in the 400 IM.  Harrison finished 21st in a time of 5:40.33 whilst Joe finished 26th in a time of 5:29.80.

Finally, the boys medley relay team put in a great show in their relay.  Ranked 28th coming into the event the boys put in a number of fast swims to finish in 16th place.  The boys splits were: Lewis Robinson (back) 1:05.83, Joseph Harper (breast) 1:14.60, Oliver Simpson (fly) 1:04.74 and Ellis Nevitt (free) 1:00.22.

Joe Mitchell followed up his 8th place in the 200m breaststroke with a fantastic swim in the shorter event.  Qualifying for the final as 3rd fastest Joe was 2.5 seconds quicker in the final as he secured silver in a time of 1:15.54.

(Joe collects his silver medal)

The girls relay team continued their impressive form as they knocked nearly 15 seconds off their entry time to take bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Qualifying only 6th fastest for the final the girls were outsiders for a medal but upped their game when it mattered with all four girls swimming faster than in the heats.  Despite suffering from a sickness bug Lillie Tew-Weaver brought the team home with a split of 2:11.66 - almost 6 seconds inside her previous best.  The girls' final time of 8:50.87 was just 1.87 seconds behind second placed Kingston-upon-Hull.  Gallica took the gold in a time of 8:45.00. 

In the girls' 200m breaststroke both Sarah Meynell and Laura Hibbert made the evening's finals.  Sarah had set an impressive PB of 1:23.19 in the heats and despite not quite matching that in the final she still swam well and took 8th place.  Laura improved on her morning swim in the final finishing 5th in a time of 1:16.87 which was only fractionally outside her PB.

Frazer Riach has had a great week and made two further finals on day four, finishing 7th and 8th in the 100m breaststroke and 200m freestyle respectively.

Harrison Coulter made his second final of the week as he added qualification in the 100m butterfly to the 200m butterfly achieved on Thursday.  Harrison came home in 10th place in a time of 1:15.95.  His time in the heats of 1:14.13 was a PB by almost 2 seconds. 

Other results for Metro swimmers on day four were: Lewis Robinson (200 free, 2:10.80, 17th), Lauren Mills (100 back, 1:08.89, 18th), Joseph Harper (100 breast,  1:16.44, 14th), Harry Lewis-Mitchell (100 fly, 1:15.13, 18th), Lewis Robinson (100 fly, 1:05.39, 16th) and Lewis Robinson (800 free, 9:06.85, 7th).

Frazer Riach continued his fine run of form as the championships reached their third day knocking almost 5 seconds off his entry time to take the silver medal in the 200m backstroke.  This adds to his 2 silvers and a bronze won earlier in the week.

Lewis Robinson added another two finals and two more impressive PBs as he finished 6th in the 400m freestyle and 5th in the 200m backstroke.  Lewis' times of 4:23.92 and 2:19.69 were 3.05 and 2.76 seconds inside his entry times respectively.

In the 200m freestyle Emily Knowles-Jones provided Metro's other finalist of the day swimming just inside her PB to finish 7th in a time of 2:09.71.  Emily, along with Kate Roodhouse, also competed in the tough 800m freestyle event.  Emily took 8th place in the 13 years age group (9:24.91) whilst Kate swam over 4 seconds inside her previous best to finish 19th in the 12 years age group.

Also competing in individual events today were Harrison Coulter (400 free, 4:56.69, 12th) and Laura Hibbert (200 fly, 2:29.40, 17th).  The boys 4x200m freestyle relay team were also in action.  Featuring Ollie Simpson, Ellis Nevitt, Joe Mitchell and Joseph Harper the team finished 28th in a time of 8:56.55.

And finally we must mention Lillie Tew-Weaver who missed out on her chance to compete in the 200m butterfly due to illness.

Metro's girls 4x100m freestyle relay team finished the day off in fantastic style as they claimed the silver medal.  The girls were ranked 14th going into the championships and knocked a massive 9 seconds off their entry time to reach the final as 4th fastest.  They improved on that further in the final as all four girls swam PBs including a first ever sub 1 minute for Emily as she led off in 59.72 seconds.  The girls final time of 4:06.58 was almost 2 seconds ahead of third placed Guildford City.  Lancashire's Gallica took the gold medal in a time of 4:04.40.

(Lillie, Lauren, Laura and Emily with their silver medals)

Earlier in the day Frazer Riach picked up his third medal of the championships by taking bronze in the 200m individual medley.  Frazer turned 9th after the first 50m but pulled back with a strong breaststroke and freestyle to come home in a time of 2:34.42, over 4 seconds inside his entry time.  Frazer also made the final of the 100m freestyle where he touched 8th in a time of 1:05.38.

Also enjoying their first national championships were 11 year olds Harrison Coulter and Sarah Meynell and both made finals; Harrison in the 200m butterfly and Sarah in 200m breaststroke.  Harrison finished 8th in a time of 2:40.68 whilst Sarah came 7th in a time of 2:59.99.

In the boys 13 years age group Lewis Robinson put in another excellent days swimming with two big PBs in the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley.  Unfortunately for Lewis he finished just outside the medals finishing 4th on both occasions.

Metro's other two finalists on day two were Laura Hibbert who took 5th place in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:46.24, and Emily Knowles-Jones who also came 5th this time in the 400m freestyle (4:29.16).

Other races for Metro swimmers today were as follows: Laura Hibbert (400 free, 4:38.66, 15th),  Harry Lewis-Mitchell (200 fly, 3:00.41, 26th), Kate Roodhouse (200 breast, 2:57.82, 15th), Emily Knowles-Jones (200 breast, 2:54.6, 23rd) and Oliver Simpson (100 free, 58.83, 14th).

11 year old Frazer Riach led the Metro charge on the first day of the National Age Group Championships at Ponds Forge.  Frazer, competing at this level for the first time, knocked a massive 9 seconds off his 100m backstroke entry time to qualify for the final.  He followed this up with a similarly impressive performance in also making the final of the 200m breaststroke.  Frazer took this form into the finals winning silver in both events in times of 1:10.64 (100m back) and 2:54.17 (200m breast).

Joe Mitchell, Joseph Harper and Emily Knowles-Jones also made finals on day one.  Joe Mitchell, another debutante at this level, finished 8th in the 12 years 200m breaststroke (2:49.91) and Joseph Harper took 9th in the same event in the 13 years age group (2:42.66).  The 200 IM and 100m freestyle both saw Emily qualify for finals and she swam PBs in both eventually finishing 8th in the 100m freestyle (1:00.50) and 9th in the 200 IM (2:27.68).

Perhaps the unluckiest swimmer was Laura Hibbert who, despite knocking around 3 seconds from her 200 IM PB, eventually had to settle for a place of 11th (and first reserve for the final).

Also competing for Metro today were Lillie Tew-Weaver (200 IM, 2:31.05, 22nd), Lauren Mills (200 back, 2:28.97, 23rd) and Lewis Robinson (100 back, 1:06.29, 13th)