OLDHAM Community Leisure’s Advanced Training Scheme swimmers competed at the recent British Championships for the first time since London 2012.
Molly Roodhouse, Jessica Calderbank and Callum Quigley raced at the Edinburgh International Meet while Luke Kearslake also qualified but unfortunately missed out due to the extreme weather.
The quartet qualified just two years after Oldham moved into new state-of-the-art facilities that include eight lane, 25-metre county standard pool.
“Having battled through arctic weather conditions to get to Edinburgh the swimmers met tough competition and performed well under the circumstances,” said head coach Mark Lord.
“The experience will put us in good stead as we look to build on the improvements we have made over the last few months.”
Roodhouse, 19, was first to swim in the Royal Edinburgh Pool and completed the 400m Individual Medley in 5 mins 08.16 seconds.
Quigley, 20, swam both the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle continued his recent fine form to post his fastest times since April 2017.
His 26.55 butterfly time and 24.66 in the freestyle were also faster than when he swam at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) meet two weeks earlier
Calderbank, 21, set a personal best in the 100m butterfly at BUCS and finished half a second away in Edinburgh with a time of 1:03.66.
Roodhouse raced the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.33 beating the time she set at last July’s summer championships.
She doubled up to do the 200m breaststroke and swam 2:38.46 which was her quickest since August 2017 when she won the 17yr/over event at English Nationals.
Her final race was the 50m butterfly which Calderbank also swam – the latter finishing in a time of 28.45 compared to Roodhouse’s 29.56.
The group all train in the £15million leisure centre, in Middleton Road, which opened in November 2015.
More swimmers, starting from age nine, have joined the scheme since the move which has five groups – national, regional, county, junior and senior/masters.
Many qualified for the recent Lancashire County Championships including Calderbank who won gold in the women’s open 50m butterfly and bronze in the 100m butterfly.
Oldham also won county medals thanks to Patrick Braddock, Gabrielle Booth and Amarai Hoque – winner of the girls’ 13yrs 50 backstroke.
Most training takes place at Oldham with sessions beginning at 4pm Monday through Friday except for Thursday when Failsworth Sports Centre is used.
Morning training also runs between 5.30am and 7.30am at Oldham on Tuesday, Thursday and most Saturdays.
For more information on the OCL Advanced Training Scheme visit www.oldhamaquatics.co.uk