AN unprecedented seven Skipton Swimming Club members have qualified for this summer's British and English national swimming long course championships.

The championships will run over two weeks and will be held at Glasgow’s Tolcross and Sheffield’s Ponds Forge.

Ned Sharp, 15, from Long Preston, a pupil at Settle College, will return to the British Summer Swimming Championships to defend his 16-year age group 50m butterfly British title that he won last year.

He will also compete in the 100m butterfly, 50m and 100m freestyle. Sharp will also compete in other strokes and distances, the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly at the English National Summer Meet.

He will be joined by Archie Minto, Archie Dunne, Harvey Pennington, Paige Fenton, Madison Turner and Sophia Basaraba.

Archie Minto, 16 of Ilkley, qualified for an seven events across both the British Championships and English Nationals.

The British Championships in Glasgow will see him swim in his favoured stroke, the butterfly in the 100m and 200m distances. He will also compete in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 100m and 200m backstroke and the 50m butterfly at the English Nationals.

This year Archie Dunne, 16, of Bingley, will compete for the first time for Skipton at the English Nationals in two events over the week.

Dunne has gained qualification times in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly.

Harvey Pennington, 14 of Colne, a pupil at Park High School, has worked hard this year and following on from success at North East Regional level has gained a place at English Nationals in the 100m freestyle.

Sharp, Minto, Dunne and Pennington will also compete at the British Championships as a 14/16-year men’s team in the 400m freestyle relay, 400m medley relay and the 800m freestyle relay. They are one of the top 25 teams in Great Britain.

Paige Fenton, 15, of Silsden and a pupil at South Craven School, having competed at English Nationals last year, this year has seen herself take it a step further and will compete at the British Championships in her favoured breaststroke in the 50m and 100m events and 200m breaststroke at the English Nationals.

Madison Turner, 15, a pupil at West Craven School in Barnoldswick, has also seen her hard work pay off this year by qualifying for the British Championships as well as English Nationals in a six events across both competitions.

At the British Championships, she will compete in her strongest and favoured stroke, the backstroke in the 50m, 100m and 200m. As she will also be competing at the English Nationals in 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and 400m freestyle, 2019 is her most successful year to date.

Sophia Basaraba, 14, of South Craven, who has a sought-after place on the England Talent Pathway for swimming, gained her place in 100m and 200m backstroke events at the English Nationals, after picking up silver and bronze medals at the recent North East Regional Age Group Championships.

LESLEY ADAMSON