NORTH Ayrshire Swimming Club ace Rory Dickson marked himself out as one of the most promising young swimmers in the UK with a series of great performances at the British Summer Championships in Sheffield.

The 16-year-old from Glengarnock came within touching distance of winning a bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley, the ultimate test of all-round ability and speed in the water.

He was pipped into fourth place by 0.3 of a second after putting himself in contention for the podium with a brilliant breaststroke length to challenge the leaders in the final.

Although bitterly disappointed to have lost out in the last couple of metres he did have the consolation of breaking the 2 minute 10 second barrier for the first time.

It was one of six new personal bests for Rory at the event where he also claimed a fourth place finish in the 100m breaststroke.

He made two other finals, the 50m breaststroke and the 200 backstroke, and was set for a swim-off to claim the last place in the super-fast 50m freestyle sprint, but opted sit it out in order to concentrate on his 200m IM, which was on the same night.

Head coach Ross Douglas was thrilled with his showing in Sheffield and said: “Rory made multiple finals and had Personal Bests in every one which is an amazing accolade. He really steps up in finals which is a great trait to have.”

Beith’s Rachael Grant also was among the North Ayrshire swimmers who qualified for the trip to Sheffield, competing in the 200m Fly and claiming 22nd place with a time of 2:31.37

“The British Summer meet is very special environment. It’s really easy to lose perspective down there but you’ve got to remember that you’re racing against the top 24 kids in Britain in that event, so even if you come last you’re still 24th in the UK! It’s still a great achievement," said Ross.

The British Championships followed on from the Scottish Summer Meet where Rachael (15) took a fifth place in the 200m Backstroke and seventh in the 100m Fly.

Rachael was competing in seven events in Aberdeen while Beth Hill (13) from Ardrossan was making her debut at the event in the long-distance 1500m, finishing seventh in a time of 21:57.56.

The results were significant, on a personal level for Ross, who has come to the end of his two years as Head Coach at North Ayrshire and is moving on to train the performance squad at the University of Edinburgh swim team.

“For me it’s bitter-sweet because I’m going to be moving on. But it was a great way to finish and hopefully there’s a great nucleus of talent in the team for my successor to build on," he added.