Horwich Leisure Centre Swimming Club competed as one of the eight top swimming teams in the North West of England when they took part in the 'A' final of the Speedo Premier League last Saturday evening at the Manchester Aquatic Centre.

Horwich qualified for the prestigious 'A' final for the second year running and were seeded in fourth place as a result of two impressive victories in earlier galas.

They competed against giant squads such as City of Liverpool and City of Salford in this magnificent new 50 metre pool, specially built for next year's Commonwealth Games.

The Horwich team, consisting of thirty five swimmers, ranging in age from ten to twenty three years old, rose to the occasion and led by Senior Captain's, Ben Johnson and Corinne Allmark, and Junior Captain's, Chris Moffatt and Rachel Hildyard, performed oustandingly, recording many personal best times.

Top three positions were hard to come by in this very high quality gala but were achieved by Anthony Howard - Horwich's Olympic swimmer - as well as Karl Holland, Ben Johnson, Emily Rashleigh, Rebecca Hobson, Sean Rushton and Daniel Swarsbrick.

The overall result of the gala was closely contested with City of Liverpool just edging out City of Salford. Horwich came fifth, one position better than last year, but did not leave empty handed as they were presented with the 'Chairman's Trophy', awarded annually to the team showing the best team spirit and poolside appearance.

Lee Stringfellow, Chief Coach said: "For a relatively small club like Horwich to reach the Speedo 'A' Final is a fantastic achievement in itself.

"To get their two years running and come fifth in the whole of the North West of England is simply amazing and I cannot praise this team highly enough. Next year we'll be looking to do even better!"

pTWENTY nine swimmers represented Bolton Swimming Club in the first Division Final of the Speedo League.

The gala took place at Lancaster's eight lane pool and brought together the top eight teams from the previous two rounds.

Bolton needed to finish at least third in order to gain promotion to the Premier League.

After the first 10 events, Bolton were in fourth place and despite all the swimmers trying very hard to gain points they could only maintain fourth spot with 229 points.

They finished behind strong teams from Newcastle (312 points), Cymry Coast (254 points) and Carnforth (238 points).