PIONEER 79 swimmer Mark Blewitt has won the prestigious British Long Distance Association Breaststroke Trophy.

The Award has been made in recognition of Mark's World Record Loch Lomond swim where he swam the 22-mile length of the loch and in doing so became the first person to swim the course using breaststroke. The swim took place last year and lasted an amazing 17 hours 50 minutes.

Mark, pictured, admitted: "It was hard being in the water for 18 hours but the boat crew were brilliant. Jane Houghton, Josh Young, Brian Blair and Matt and James Simpson all helped me, especially with training swims round and round Rivington Reservoir for hours on end and swimming the length of Lake Windermere."

Mark also swam the Channel in 2002 and holds the record for swimming the 21-mile Two-Way Windermere course breaststroke. His next big swim will be an attempt to break that record in August.

Meanwhile, members of the Pioneer 79 squad continued to impress at the last weekend of the Lancashire County Championships in Manchester.

Paige Doutel, 10, received a gold, silver and bronze medal in all her competitions and was also awarded a bronze medal for her overall performance.

Natalie Honey, 15, set a personal best when she comfortably won a silver medal in the 400m freestyle and Robert Harrison competed in the 13-year-old category and won the silver in 50m freestyle and set a new PB.

Not to be outdone, 14-year-old Luke Marriner added a silver in the 100m backstroke and a bronze in the 200IM to his medal collection and was given gold for his overall performance in the competition. Luke also finished second in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke and set a new PB.

And, in another competition in Chester, Pioneer swimmers bagged 16 medals with six out of the 11 children taking part achieving a podium place.

They collected three gold, four silver and nine bronze medals. All the parents and children had a great day and all the swimmers achieved personal bests - some swimming against older competitors..

The 11 who competed were: Lucy Butler who won gold in the 50m breasktroke for the 13-year-old girls; James Thompson won the 50m freestyle for 12-year-old boys; Paige Doutel who was champion in the 50m Fly - and broke the existing record of 1.18.12 to make it 1.16.91 in the 100m IM; Nanha Fielding; Hariot Doyle; Matthew Bennett; Josh Eckesrley; Elizabeth Undrell; Daniel Mala, Ben Eckesrley and Max Butler.

  • EX-OLYMPIAN Rob Greenwood has been asked by Lancashire Water Polo and swimming Association to be head coach for the Lancashire team in October 05. Rob commented: "It's a great honour for me and I am fully focused on bringing back the trophy for a fourth consecutive time." Rob's coaching skills have helped to bring success to the children at Gallica and the Hyndburn clubs Pioneer 79, Great Harwood and Accrington.