A team of Utmost Isle of Man Swim Club athletes attended the star-studded Go Cardless Swim England National Winter Swimming Championships over four days recently.

The venue was Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, with the Manx team overseen by national head coach Lee Holland.

Swimming stars competing at the Winter Nationals included Loughborough’s Abbie Wood - fresh from claiming 200m and 400m individual medley gold medals at the recent European Short Course Championships - and breaststroker Imogen Clark who took European short-course bronze in the 50m event, as well as bronze as part of the 4x50 women’s medley relay team.

The Manx team comprised multiple Island Games gold medallists Joel Watterson and Laura Kinley, as well as 19-year-old Harry Robinson – son of Suzanne (née Brown), who represented the Isle of Man at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.

Breaststroke specialist Alex Turnbull was also in attendance, as well as 16-year-old Ella Justice who qualified for several 17-and-under events: no mean feat in itself.

Watterson and Robinson were first off in the 50m freestyle, seeded into the top heats. They both delivered fantastic performances to start the nationals on a high for the Manx contingent. Robinson recorded a time of 23.01 seconds, while Watterson made the senior (B) final with a swift 22.68 clocking, half a second faster than his recent Manx nationals win.

Watterson impressed again when returning for the evening finals session, improving on his morning time in stopping the clock at 22.61. Watterson was just outside the medals and his personal best in taking fourth spot, an impressive performance and a very promising sign for the season ahead.

Day two saw Watterson and Robinson return in the 100m freestyle event, with Turnbull also swimming in the open 50m breaststroke event. The latter had a great swim to record 29.21 and take 50th position overall.

In the open/men’s 100m free heats Robinson swam well and consolidated his 50.4s clocking from the Scottish Nationals one week earlier - another Manx swimmer in great early-season form.

Not to be outdone, Watterson also turned in an excellent swim and was only 1/100th of a second outside his PB (which is also the Manx national record) in clocking 49.21 - qualifying in a very impressive seventh place for that evening’s main open final.

Watterson had the swim of his life in the final to take sixth position overall, only 5/100ths off fifth place.

Just as importantly, he smashed through the 49-second barrier to set a new Manx record of 48.92.

This is a truly magnificent achievement for Watterson and coach Holland, and a well-deserved reward for all the hard work and early-morning sessions the pair have put in together over the years.

The level at which Watterson is now swimming is demonstrated by the fact that he was only a second behind Commonwealth Games medallist Jamie Ingram of City of Manchester and with that performance now occupies a lofty 17th place in the British rankings.

A report from the third and fourth days of the English championships will appear in either next week’s

Isle of Man Examiner or Manx Independent.