SWIMMING: Youngsters from Redditch Swimming Club took part in the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain's National Biathlon Championships in Sheffield.

And they produced a number of excellent displays, the highlight of which was a fantastic third place for the 13-14 year old Youth C girls team of Courtney Hyde, Suzie Britt and Jess Nice.

Having qualified in the regional championships in September, six Redditch Swimming Club girls competed successfully in the championships.

The competition started on Saturday with a cross country run held in bitterly cold and windy conditions.

The 10-year-old Youth E girls - Hannah Rolls, Sophie Bridgman and Hetty Mosforth - led off with Hannah scoring a superb tenth position. Sophie came in 34th and Hetty 40th as the team finished sixth overall.

Youth C followed with Courtney coming in 21st, Suzie 35th and Jess 51st. This left the Redditch trio in 4th place as a team more than 100 points behind third place.

Ponds Forge was the venue for the Swimming on Sunday. This is a magnificent 50m pool, used for countless national and international championships, and was certainly an eye-opener to those visiting for a first time and more used to the more humble facilities in Redditch.

Nevertheless the Redditch girls certainly weren't overawed. The thrill at seeing their names on the electronic scoreboard spurred them on and everyone scored a new personal best!

Hannah Rolls finished 21st in the swimming and clinched 11th overall, a great achievement at this level. Sophie Bridgman came a fine 13th in the swimming and moved up to 33rd overall and Hetty Mosforth came 40th in the swimming and 41st overall. This performance confirmed the girls' sixth place.

Redditch Youth C had to be more than three seconds a swimmer faster than Wymondham College to take third position from them.

Wymondham had the overall champion in their team but a superb team effort pulled Redditch up into the top three.

Courtney Hyde finished 24th in the swimming, 20th overall, Suzie Britt 29th in swimming, 32nd overall and Jess Nice 15th in swimming 47th overall.

The team were presented with their trophies by the Athens Olympics Modern Pentathlon medallist, Georgina Harland.

These were all super achievements as the girls were only pulled together to compete in September.

They all showed tremendous team spirit and fighting qualities.