Richmond swimmer Joanne Jackson, 17, who trains with Richmond Dales ASC and Derwentside and swims for Durham Aquatics, took two titles at the North Eastern Counties Junior/Senior Gala at Sheffield.

Having qualified to swim in the Athens Olympics by winning the 400m freestyle and being selected to swim in the 200m freestyle relay, she took the 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly in the NEC championships.

Her time for the 200m butterfly was six seconds faster than the second-placed swimmer and she also swam the anchor leg in the Durham Aquatics 4x200m relay team, who won the event in a new county record time.

Four Richmond swimmers qualified for the championships and all recorded personal best times, with two making finals.

Ryan Livingstone, 18, swam in the 200m and 50m backstroke finals, finishing tenth and ninth respectively.

Janine Phillips, 14, made the 100m breaststroke final, finishing fifth after improving her time from 1:21.08 in the heat to 1:18.99 in the semi-final and 1:18.36 in the final, a very good performance for a 14-year-old.

The previous Saturday, the club's junior team travelled to Middlesbrough to swim in the Junior League and on Sunday the full team travelled to Eston to compete in the Teesside and North Yorkshire League, winning both events.

The junior team will now swim in the final gala at Felling on June 27 to decide which team will be promoted to division two.