SWIMMERS from Pioneer 79 are making waves in the Lancashire swimming world.

Four of the older swimmers - Robert Harrison, Luke Marriner and sisters Natalie and Bethany Honey - are training with the county squad while 10-year-old Paige Doutel already has a mantelpiece full of cups and trophies.

Paige goes to Belthorn Primary School and has been swimming since she was four-years-old.

She has made a big splash in her last two competitions in the Bolton and District Age Group gala.

In the first leg she won nine gold medals and, although she couldn't keep her 100 per cent record in the second leg, she still took four golds, two silvers and a bronze meaning she got a medal in every event she entered.

She was the top ten-year-old at the event at Broughton in Manchester and topped the female over all list.

Natalie, 15, and Bethany, 11, are both Mount Carmel pupils who first joined Accrington Swimming club when they were five years old. Both are record holders at the club but four years ago they also joined Pioneer 79.

Natalie won all seven events in the open girls championships this year and she also holds three records in the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Secondary Schools gala's.

Both now train with Swim Lancashire early mornings and teatime at Shadsworth pool.

Both competed at the Bolton Gala with Natalie taking the top 15-year-old prize after her two gold medal haul.

Sister Bethany was fourth in the 11-year-age group after her two silvers and two bronze medals.

Meanwhile, Hollins High School pupil Robert Harrison was the top 13-year-old at the age group gala after two gold medal performances in the 50m butterfly and 200m freestyle.

He learnt to swim at Great Harwood Otters from the age of seven and moved to Pioneer when he was 10 and was the club's 200th member.

And he has re-written the club's record books recently. In the annual swimming gala, he won all his age group events breaking four records, one of which, the 100m fly, he broke twice. Two of the records he broke had been in place for 15 years.

His favourite event is the 50m butterfly with a personal best of of 31:62 and 100m butterfly with a pb of 1.12:16.

And not to be outdone, Luke Marriner, was top 15-year-old in the Bolton event winning two gold and a silve medal.

Luke, a St Wilfred's pupil, is a relative newcomer to swimming as he only took up the event two years ago but he made an immediate impact, winning the 12-year-old boys trophy at the club's gala in one of his early competitive swims.

Since then he has gone from strength to strength winning medals all over the country. His best events are the freestyle and backstroke and he is within striking distance of eight national qualifying times.

While these five enjoyed the Bolton gala it was also a success for other Pioneer 79 swimmers.

Katie Bartrop, Liam Butler and Adam Bennett all won a medal in every event they entered as Pioneer won 45 medals - 105 over the two legs.

Katie was second in the Over 16 age group while team-mate Samantha Dunderdale won the Over 16s overall title thanks to three gold medals.

Lucy Butler was the top 13-year-old after winning one of each of the medals while James Thompson was in joint top place in the 12-year-old age group with two silvers. And he finished joint second in the top male overall category - with Robert Harrison fifth and Luke Marriner eighth.

Liam Butler was third in the 11-year old boys section despite a gold in the 50m butterfly; Jack Walsh was second in the Over 16 section after his two silvers while, in the 15-year-old boys, Adam Bennett was second after a gold, two silvers and bronze.

Pioneer 79 came second overall with 682 points behind Swinton with 718.

"The event was the best Pioneer showing for many a year with personal bests falling thick and fast," said press officer Ruth Marriner.