BOLTON skaters have continued to make a name for themselves over the spring competitions, both on the national and international stage.

A total of eight members of Bolton Artistic Roller Skating Club earned top-10 places at the FARS open free competition in Kettering last month.

And two skaters, Emma Thiele and Hollie Asquith, went on to represent Great Britain in Paris.

Thiele earned second place in Kettering and was fifth out of 26 top-class competitors in the French capital, while Asquith was fourth and 16th, respectively.

Other Bolton girls to earn good finishes in the national competition were Jessica Heyes (first), Toby Halpin (second), Shelbie Davenport (fourth), Vallentina Montanna (fifth), Lauren Heyes (eighth), Katie Fletcher (10th) and Emma Halpin (11th).

Coach and club founder Nina Asquith said: "What a fantastic weekend at the FARS free comp it was for our free skaters.

"It was a tough competition, which threw up some great results and a handful of best-ever skates.

"They made me a very proud coach – it was so nice to see the axles and double axles starting to come off."

As well as being watched by a proud coach, the girls also had some proud parents in the crowd cheering them on, none more so than Emma Thiele's dad, Stephen, who is also chairman of the club.

“We are very proud of Emma and all the hard work she has been putting in, it is great to see her putting emotion into all her performances," he said.

"Nina (Asquith) should take a lot of credit for all her hard work in getting Emma to this level.

"Emma did brilliantly in Paris and it was unbelievable to now see competing against skaters from around the world. It brought tears to our eyes.”