FIVE swimmers from Colchester Phoenix competed at the East Midland Inclusive Disability Gala, in Leicester.

Mark Holmes, Sam Inman, Chloe Scott, Helen Thompson and Holly Bocking took part in a wide range of events, from the 25 metres up to the 400m.

All of them did their club proud.

Medals were awarded in four age categories for junior swimmers, with a final category for swimmers aged 18 and above.

Holmes opened the gala with a fantastic personal best (PB), taking over six seconds off his time in the 200m freestyle.

This was quick enough to secure a bronze medal.

Thompson followed his example in the next race, with a silver medal and a PB in the 50m breaststroke.

She beat a time she set only last month.

Scott also swam this event and, although she didn’t improve her time, managed a superb bronze medal.

Bocking was next off the blocks and, clearly inspired by her team-mates’s performances, knocked over two seconds off her time in the 200m individual medley (IM), winning gold in the process.

Thompson had little time to relax before she was racing back-to-back sprints, using the 25m freestyle as a warm-up to a superb 50m butterfly with a three-second PB.

Phoenix head coach Julie Jago said: “I was delighted with Holly and Helen’s swims as both girls have been disqualified several times in recent months in the butterfly and the IM, due to not getting their arms clear of the water at each touch in the butterfly element.

"The Phoenix coaches have been working very hard in training to teach them the technicalities of the turns and the finish.

"This is difficult enough for able-bodied swimmers but when you have a learning disability, as both girls do, they need so much more practice in order to make their strokes fully legal.”

Inman opened his gala with an excellent swim in the 100m IM, just half a second outside his personal best.

He was joined in this event by Thompson, Holmes and Scott, with Scott showing them how it was done by smashing her PB by almost six seconds and winning a bronze medal.

Phoenix team captain Inman said: “I was so proud to see the Phoenix swimmers do so well in the morning session.

"It's great for us to be able to compete together as we all cheer each other on in the races.

"We also love racing against each other too.

"I think we were the loudest team there.”

The afternoon saw Bocking swimming her first-ever 400m freestyle race - a gruelling 16 lengths.

She swam it in under 8½ minutes - an improvement of 30 seconds from her practices during training - and was well rewarded with a gold medal.

Holmes also swam this distance in a different heat and although he didn’t improve his time, he did win a silver medal.

Thompson’s afternoon was to swim two sprints, the 25m breaststroke and butterfly.

She was racing against two fellow junior members of the Down Syndrome Swimming GB team, plus one from the US team.

It meant there was plenty of friendly rivalry around the poolside, ahead of the upcoming Down Syndrome Swimming World Championships in Canada in July.

Inman had the best afternoon of the team, being a fraction of a second outside his PB in the 100m breaststroke but then going better in the 50m freestyle, taking an incredible seven seconds off his PB.

Inman said: “I’d like to thank the poolside team of Fran Clarke and Nikki Scott for enabling us to compete for Colchester Phoenix at the Leicester Disability Gala.

"It’s a long way to travel but worth it to see our swimmers set new personal best times and win so many medals.”