It was a perfect 10 for Pioneer 79 as they came away with 10 gold medals from Bolton Metro Swimming Squad’s Gala.

22 swimmers from the Hyndburn and Blackburn club took part at evet at Salford’s Broughton Baths and, as well as 10 golds, there were eight silver and 17 bronze medals.

And the medallists got a boost as Bolton captain and ex-Blackburn player Kevin Davies presented the awards,

MEDAL WINNERS:

  • 9 Year Girls: Natasha Rogan (1 Gold, 1 Bronze), Abigail Murray.
  • 10 Year Girls: Meghann Leaver, Olivia Nicholls, Ellie Perris and Saffron Scott.
  • 11 Year Girls: Elizabeth Greenwood (2 Gold, 1 Silver), Mesha Ingham-Francis, Imogen Losardo, Niamh Robinson (1 Gold, 2 Bronze) and Jasmin Scott (2 Bronze)
  • 12 Year Girls: Jessica Magee (1 Silver)
  • 13 Year Girls: Sarah Bryan
  • 15 Year + Girls: Charlotte Britland (4 Gold), Alex Halstead (4 Bronze) and Shannon McGinty (1 Bronze).
  • 9 Year Boys: Mitchell Healy (2 Bronze) and Connor Roberts (5 Silver)
  • 10 Year Boys: Aedan Magee (1 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze)
  • 11 Year Boys: Joseph Murray (1 Gold)
  • 12 Year Boys: William Beavan (1 Bronze)
  • 13 Year Boys: Jake Healy
  • 14 Year Boys: Connor Makin (1 Gold, 2 Silver).

Many of the club’s swimmers also competed in the B Final for the Arena League

The Arena League is a National League which is divided into six divisions – East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South Western and West Midlands.

Within these groups, teams compete aiming to take part in the Divisional A Finals, the winners of which then go on to compete in the Cup Final to be held in April,

The Arena League B final was held at Stockport and the Pioneer 79 team were determined not to finish in the bottom two places, and avoid being relegated to Division One.

Pioneer qualified in seventh place so the pressure was on.

The six other teams competing to survive in the Premier League for another year were Blackpool Aquatics, Trafford Metro, City of Carlisle, Barrow Beavers, Blackburn Centurions and Carnforth Otters.

At the half-way point, Carnforth led with 121 points, Barrow 2nd 110, Carlisle 3rd 107, Pioneer 79 4th 105, Blackpool and Trafford Metro 5th 103 and Blackburn Centurions 6th 78 points.

After 42 events, Pioneer 79 had inched forward into second position with 176 points but it was still close.

With only seven events to go, Pioneer knew that it was within their grasp to stay up.

The final event of the evening was the mens open freestyle relay which Pioneer battled through to win.

In the final results, Pioneer 79 finished second with 209 points behind Carnforth which means they stay in the top 16 teams of the North West for another year.