OCL Swimmers head to British Championships

Two years after moving into Oldham Community Leisure’s state-of-the-art facilities, four swimmers from the centre’s Advanced Training Scheme have qualified for the upcoming British Swimming Championships.

Molly Roodhouse, Jessica Calderbank, Callum Quigley and Luke Kearslake will all compete in the Edinburgh International meet, which includes the British Championships within it, between March 1 and 4.

The quartet are Oldham’s first group of swimmers to qualify since Jessica Lloyd and Jessica Fullalove, before London 2012. They all train regularly in the 25-metre county standard pool, part of the £15m Oldham Leisure Centre (OLC), which opened in November 2015.

 

“Our swimmers have been training hard in preparation for British Championships so I’m looking forward to seeing some good performances from them,” says Head Coach, Mark Lord.

 

“The Advanced Training Scheme has really benefitted from training at OLC’s newly-built facilities, which have spurred on our swimmers to greater heights.”

Roodhouse, 19, has qualified for four events (400m Individual Medley, 50 Butterfly, 100 and 200 Breaststroke) and is also a reserve in the 200 IM. Calderbank, 21, will compete in both the 50 and 100 Fly while Quigley, 20, also has two events – 50 Free and Fly. Kearslake, 18, faces a race in the Royal Commonwealth Pool against teammate Quigley after also qualifying in the 50 Fly.

More swimmers, starting from age nine, have joined the Advanced Training Scheme since the move to OLC. It trains five different groups – national, regional, county, junior and senior/masters. Many qualified for the recent Lancashire County Championships including Calderbank, who won gold in the Women’s Open 50 Fly and bronze in the 100 fly.

Oldham also won county medals thanks to Patrick Braddock, Gabrielle Booth and Amarai Hoque – winner of the Girls 13yrs 50 Backstroke.

Most training sessions begin at OLC at 4pm Monday through to Friday, except for Thursday when Failsworth Sports Centre is used. Morning training also runs between 5:30 and 7:30am at OLC Tuesday, Thursday and most Saturdays.

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For further information and images please contact:
Wendy Golledge at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel. 07921 319517
Email: wendy@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk

For more information on the OCL Advanced Training Scheme visit: www.oldhamaquatics.co.uk