WINSFORD'S swimmers are in the middle of a very busy five weeks of competition.

It started on January 16 at Macclesfield with the first two galas of the North Midlands Association Championships and was a very successful day.

The overall performance of the swimmers was very high. Those who made the finals were Laura Astbury (2), Alex Holderness, Georgia Holderness, Laura Harrison, Andrew Irvine (2), Ryan Morris (2), David Anderson and Andrew Hickson.

The first round of the Crusader League Division 1 was held at Market Drayton on January 23. Winsford finished second which was a very good result considering promotion was only achieved last year.

There were some first class performances from youngsters who had never competed at this level before. Alex Holderness had two fine individual wins. Stephanie Buckley, Katie Farrall, Yasmin Kara and Elizabeth Walker joined her in the medley and freestyle relays where they finished first and second respectively.

The boys' best individual place came from David Forster, and the 12-year-old girls swam exceptionally well with individual wins from Georgia Holderness (2) and Laura Astbury. Ceri Morris, Sarah Farrall, and Kerry Harrison joined them in the medley and freestyle relays in which they finished third and first respectively.

In the 14 and under age group, David Anderson, Ryan Morris, Adam Sommerville and James Wood confirmed their ability by finishing second in both relays and in the top three of the three individual events. Representing the girls were Helen Brockley, Rebecca Ebbitt, Diane Farrall and Laura Harrison, whose first place in the 50m backstroke was their best result.

In the open age group, Richard Anderson swam well to win both the 100m freestyle and breaststroke events and Andrew Hickson was unlucky to be just touched out of the 100m butterfly. Simon Swaffield, Stuart Waddington and Andrew West joined them in the medley and freestyle relays where they finished irst and third respectively. Molly Thompson's second place in the 100m freestyle was the best individual performance for the girls. Laura Astbury, Caroline Bell, Laura Harrison, Georgia Holderness and Tracey Farrall joined her in the medley and freestyle relays where they finished second in both.

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