A QUARTET of Christchurch Seagulls are flying high after striking gold twice in the South West regional relay competition at Millfield.

Abbie Noyce, Ellen Broadfield, Chloe Scott and Zoe Gannaway went into the 9-10yrs 4x50m freestyle and medley relays ranked first – and justified their ranking in both heats and both finals.

They had to work for their wins, though, especially in the medley.

In this, Gannaway clawed back a 12-metre deficit from Penzance on the butterfly leg.

Anchor girl Scott then passed the Cornish freestyler to seal victory.

All 18 Seagulls teams reached their finals with six making the podium.

In the boys’ 15 and over age group, Seagulls’ A team of Chris Gannaway, Cianan Mann, Mikey Kingsley and Darren Price saw off older opponents to win silver in the 4x50m freestyle and bronze in the medley.

Bronze also went to 11-12yrs freestylers Bethan O’Hara, Leana Galton, Maisie Gormley and Hannah Price.

With Kathy Rogers replacing Price, they also came fourth in the medley final.

A third bronze went to the girls’ 15 and over freestyle team of Megan Chapman, Alice Talbot, Kizzy Smith and Lydia Witney.

Head coach Barry Alldirck said: “The team spirit and motivation that comes from relays is great to see. When your teams are hugging and air-slamming each other before their races, you know they are going to produce results.”