Whilst their older, more experienced training partners were busy adding to the Isle of Man medal total in Aland, a group of eleven younger swimmers were taking part in the City of Liverpool Swimming Club Summer Sprint Meet at the 50m pool in the city.

For several of the team, it was their first taste of off island competition, and their first time competing in a 50m pool.

Ten year old Ben Kebbell obviously enjoyed being on the podium at the NorthWest Regional Championships last month and was determined to repeat the process whenever possible.

He swam in nine events over the two days and came away with 3 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze! 

The golds came in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and the 50m freestyle, the latter in a personal best of 34.07. 

He won silver in the 50m and 100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley. 

His time of 3 min 02.41 for the individual medley was particularly impressive. 

The bronze came in the 100m butterfly.  This was a great weekend's swimming which showed just what a good all-rounder Ben is.

Jacob Callow, in his first off-Island competition, and James Hansford, both swimming in the 11 years age group, were the other medal winners. 

Jacob scored a very impressive victory in the 50m butterfly in 37.50, and was third in the 50m freestyle, whilst James took the bronze in the 100m butterfly in a pb of 1 min 27.63.

In addition, he finished in the top six in all nine of his races.

Sophie Fletcher, 10, was also in her first off-Island competition, and whilst not coming away with any medals had some good swims amongst her seven events. 

Her 50m swims on butterfly in 44.34 and backstroke in 43.40 make her one to watch in the future.

Swimming in the 11 years age group, Megan Howland competed in six events on backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle and swam much better than anticipated in her first off-Island competition. 

She should be particularly proud of her 100m backstroke. 

In the next age group up, Ruth Hurst also achieved times faster than expected in all seven of her races.

Tanisha Beatty and Freya Keig were busy in the 13 years age group, with Tanisha in 6 races and Freya in 8. 

Both girls competed well and created personal bests to be targeted on their next trip to a 50m pool.

The remaining member of the team were 14 year old Zak Keig, who was team captain, Alex Price(13), and 12 years old Callan Kelly-Bunyan. 

Zak swam particularly well in the freestyle events, lowering his 100m time to 1 min 05.95 and breaking 30 seconds for the 50m sprint for the first time. 

Alex was one of the busiest of the Manx swimmers with nine races over the two days, and achieved 'PBs' in the 50m and 100m backstroke. 

Last, but certainly not least, Callan came away with four new best times from his four swims.

The young swimmers were a credit to the island, and can look forward to many more years of competition, and who knows? Bermuda 2013 beckons!

Many thanks to coach Val Ward and Team Manager Jo Kebbell, and also the parents who accompanied the swimmers.