BOLTON wrestlers Mark Cocker, George Ramm and Charlie Bowling claimed a golden hat-trick at the British Open Senior Championships.

Cocker, aged 35, who finished fifth in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in both the freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines, won his fifth British title at the Wildcats Arena in Nottingham on Saturday.

The headteacher at Pleckgate High School in Blackburn defeated Richard Tuke, of Bradford, in the final of the 125kg division.

It was the Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club member's final senior bout of a 25-year competitive career that has also seen him win numerous English Open titles.

While Cocker, who hopes to continue competing in masters tournaments, is at the end of his seniors wrestling journey, Ramm's and Bowling's are only just beginning.

Bowling, aged 21, of Westhoughton, claimed his first British Open title with a victory over Maltese wrestler Adam Vella in the 65kg category.

He beat Aspull Warriors team-mate Phillip Roberts, aged 29, also of Westhoughton, in the opening round.

Roberts, who made it to the round of 16 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, got through the repechage and eventually claimed a bronze medal.

Ramm, meanwhile, made it back-to-back British Open senior titles after winning gold last November when the championships were held at Smithills Leisure Centre in Bolton.

The 21-year-old Harwood-born wrestler, who is a Sharples Wrestling Club member but is currently based in Holland and competes in the German Bundesliga, beat Scottish Wrestling Association's (SWA) Ross Connelly in the 57kg final.

Both Ramm and Bowling now look set to be selected for England's 2018 Commonwealth Games team, with an official announcement expected to be made in the next few days.

Bowling has taken a year out of his studies at the University of Central Lancashire to train at Brock University in Canada in a bid to make the team for the Games in Gold Coast, Australia, and the sacrifice has certainly paid off.

He went to Glasgow in 2014 to help the team out as a training partner, while Ramm was selected as a 17-year-old and made it to the quarter-finals.

Bolton had a number of other medallists at the British Seniors. Abdullah Hussain, aged 18, of Bolton Olympic WC, won silver after losing to Scotland's Joe Hendry in the 97kg final, while Sharples' Georgina Nelthorpe lost to SWA's Angele Tomo in the women's 76kg final.