THE recent visit of a Comm-onwealth Games medal winner and Olympic hopeful proved to be the perfect incentive for young swimmers at Great Harwood Otters.

The Otters invited medal Daniel Slinwinski and their own Jordan Theaker, who is also an England international swimmer, to give coaching tips and advice.

In return, the club presented Slinwinski with a cheque to help with his preparation for London 2012.

And the pair’s pool work certainly paid off.

The visit came in between two weekends of action in the Lancashire County Champ-ionships, first in Liverpool and then Manchester.

Ellie Ward was the stand-out swimmer for the Otters in Man-chester, winning the nine-year-old girls 50m breaststroke – following up the two third places in the 200m breaststroke and back-stroke she earned in Liverpool.

In total, the club achieved an impres-sive 19 personal bests.

Swimmers that competed were Madison Beswick, Ellie Ward, Ben Turland, Matthew Sharpe, Saffron Fenton, Emily Sharpe and Elliot Norman.

“All the swimmers did us proud,” said head coach Craig Lord. “We may be small in comparison to other clubs be we manage to punch above our weight in these galas.”