The north west region’s 14-and-under championships held in the Manchester’s Aquatics Centre gave 12yr old Ulverston Otters swimmer Amelia Mandel the opportunity to display her talents to the full.

Having qualified for five of the long course events throughout the year following a mountain of travelling, hard work and dedication to training this gave her a great chance to shine and she didn’t disappoint.

In fact, she came out on fire as not only did she set great heat times, but every one got her a place in the finals.

Throughout the weekend she took on the best of the 11 and 12year olds and gave a dramatic display of all round swimming.

She opened her score with a strong effort in the 200 Freestyle which brought her a time of 2:27.36, a 5th place and qualified for the Final where she took a respectable 8th place.

A change of stroke and she took on the 200m breaststroke where she put in some immaculate turns and transitions, which linked with her elegant stroke pattern brought her through the heats and another final where she clocked a 3:11.07 and another 8th place.

She then tested her sprinting prowess in the 50 Freestyle, getting another final and 6th place in 30.36.

Into the 100s she produced her finest effort. Another 8th place in the breaststroke and it was on to her favourite, the freestyle where in the heats, she dug deep and stormed to a final qualifying time of 1:07.12 and a 4th place.

Seeing her chance for glory she then produced the swim of her life. Over the first length she was well in the mix and with a powerhouse turn and transition made a supreme effort to get on track for honours.

Into the finish she produced another injection of pace and hit the pads with a personal best of 1:05.91 and a well deserved Bronze Medal.

13yr old Shannon Parker had two swims, the 50 Freestyle and 50 Backstroke, where she gave high quality performances to be proud of. More quality swims came from Anna Morrison, Indya Sharp and Felicity Boyle.

Sharp again showed her outstanding ability and power to finish in an impressive time of 32.89 in the 50 Butterfly sprint while Boyle also worked hard to post a time of 37.71 for her 50 backstroke.

Morrison too had qualified for two events, 50 Backstroke and 50 Butterfly and produced good solid swims to add to her experience and sprinting ability.

Just to crown these fine performances the news came through that both Amelia Mandel and Kendal’s Elliot Woodburn had been selected for a place on the North West Regional Development Talent Camps to be held in July, October and December this year.

Another bonus for the Otters came with Alex Knagg, Nicola Capstick and Tom Robinson receiving news that they have been selected to take part at National level with places both in British and English Championships later in the year.