Abby in winning form at Sheffield

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), July 2, 2003

Abby Johnson (Durham Aqua/ Chester-le- Street) won the girls 12-years 200m freestyle at the North Eastern Counties Age Group Championships held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, over the weekend.

Abby's time of 2-16.01 won her the event and followed up her victories at the championships a fortnight earlier. The Chester-le-Street girl was also second in the 400m individual medley with 5-18.76.

From the same training base at Chester-le-Street, Sally Kidd swam an excellent 10-37.51 to win the 11-years 800m freestyle. In the same age group, Sophie Ballantyne (City of Sunderland) won the 200m butterfly in 2-53.67.

The other local winner was Tom Forrester (Durham Aqua/Tynemouth), who won the 11-years 100m backstroke in 1-17.09 followed by City of Newcastle's Chris Dixon, who was third in 1-22.36.

Ryan Walsh (Durham Aqua/Derwentside) came home second in the 10-years 200m butterfly with 2-59.84. In the same event, Christopher Unsworth (Durham City) came third at 11-years level with 3-07.22. Rebecca Nauton (Durham Aqua/Chester-le-Street) was third in the 11-years 200m front crawl in 2-28.79.

In the 13-year girls 400m IM, two Durham Aqua swimmers took medals. Lauren Christian (Tynemouth) took the silver with 5-30.33 whilst Sarah Bennett (Gateshead/Whickham) was the bronze medallist in 5-35.36.

Other medallists from the area included in the girls 12-years, Sarah Hilditch (Durham Aqua/Consett), who was second in the 100m backstroke with 1-13.47 and Kathleen Raw (Durham Aqua/Chester-le- Street), third in the 100m breaststroke in 1-20.53. Dayne Hitch (Durham Aqua/Derwentside) took the silver medal in the boys 13-years 100m backstroke in 1-09.52.