Utmost Wealth Isle of Man Swimming Club enjoyed a fantastic opening day at the Lancashire Championships recently, bringing home an impressive haul of medals and personal bests.

The day's racing kicked off with the 400m freestyle where 13-year-old Olivia Williamson delivered a tremendous 13-second PB, finishing in five minutes and 3.27 seconds.

Her Peel team-mate Lauren Dennett clocked an impressive 4:40.89 to earn sixth place in the 16-year-old category.

In the boys' 100m freestyle, Oscar Maddrell qualified for the age 13 final with a huge three-second PB of 1:03.23.

Henry Mackenzie (age 11), Oscar Garczynski (age 12) and Eli Birchenough (age 13) all achieved four-second PBs, while Jacob Wright (age 11) cut nearly three seconds from his time.

The 14-year-old boys’ category saw strong performances from Ed Pearson (1:02.77), Carter Kneale (1:03.43), Jacob Garczynski (1:04.03), and Charley Bevan (1:05.15).

Jacob Craine continued the Manx PB streak, going close to breaking the minute barrier in clocking 1:00.40.

The more senior swimmers also shone, with Zack Bellhouse (56.58), Tom Caine (57.86), Dylan Larossa (58.66), and Conor Mealin (59.12) all producing lightning-fast swims.

In the age 13 final, Maddrell had a fantastic swim, further improved his time and clinched a superb silver medal in an extremely competitive age category.

In the 50m breaststroke, Chloe Batty cruised through to the open final where she was joined by teammate Ellie Johnson, while Zoe Neuwirt impressed by slicing 1.1 seconds off her PB to qualify third fastest for the 15-year-old final.

In the finals, Neuwirt once again delivered a standout performance, breaking her PB to claim a well-earned bronze medal with a time of 35.72s. Batty secured silver in the 17 and over category in 35.75, while Johnson took eighth place.

The Manx boys excelled in the 200m individual medley (IM). Henry Mackenzie, in his first long-course race over the distance, clocked 3:13.03 for fifth in the 10/11 age group.

Jamie Farnan and Oscar Maddrell both earned well-deserved bronze medals, with Maddrell setting an impressive 4.9-second PB (2:40.27), while Farnan finished with a swift time of 2:27.43 to claim age 15 bronze.

There were also strong performances from Jacob Garczynski who posted an exceptional eight-second personal best (2:37.62) to finish 10th in the 14-year-old category, with Carter Kneale closely following behind in 2:39.7.

In the 800m Oscar Maddrell continued his stellar form taking gold in the 13-year-old category with a blistering 9:56.86. Ed Pearson also excelled, slashing 12 seconds off his PB to finish in 9:55.09.

The younger swimmers got the Manx team’s afternoon session off to a storming start in the 50m backstroke.

Henry Mackenzie produced a fantastic four-second PB of 39.10 to qualify second-fastest for the age 10/11 final, while Oscar Maddrell qualified eighth fastest in the 13-year-olds with a 1.6-second PB, clocking 35.06.

There were some smooth swims from the rest of the Manx contingent including a 2.3 second personal best from 11-year-old Jacob Wright (42.16), while in the 14-year-olds less than a second covered Charley Bevan (33.10), Carter Kneale (33.39), Jacob Garczynski (34.05) and Ed Pearson (34.05).

Senior swimmer Adam Shuttleworth finished off the Manx backstroke heats swims with a 1.2-second PB (31.47) for 14th place.

In the final, Mackenzie won a superb silver medal with 39.10, while Maddrell finished a strong eighth, improving his time by 1.4 seconds from the heats.

The 200m breaststroke again saw the Manx in the medals, with Jacob Garczynski claiming age 14 bronze with a huge six-second PB (2:49.50).

Behind Garczynski, Carter Kneale recorded a massive PB to finish fifth in the age 14 race, slashing seven seconds off his time to clock 2:53.35 just ahead of Ed Pearson in ninth (3:04.22).

Jamie Farnan claimed his second medal of the day, taking a fantastic age 15 bronze medal in a time of 2:49.49.

The younger swimmers were not overawed, with Oscar Garczynski shaving an incredible 10 seconds off his previous best to clock 3:20.61 and finish sixth in the 12-year-old race.

Thomas McEvoy also delivered a strong swim, posting a time of 3:38.76. In the 10/11 age group, Henry Mackenzie placed fifth in his first long-course race with a time of 3:42.93, while Jacob Wright achieved a four-second PB, finishing 11th with a time of 3:47.7.

At the end of a long day, national head coach Lee Holland was delighted with the Isle of Man swimmers' performances, having achieved countless PBs as well as medal-winning swims.

Holland was in an optimistic mood going into day two of the Lancashire Championships, with a report on the day's events to follow in a future edition.

VANESSA CHRISTIAN