HOURS of training paid off for the talented young members of Bolton Artistic Roller Skating Club after they secured a glittering medal haul at the recent British Championships.

Skaters at the club, which is based at Kearsley Academy, brought home a magnificent seven gold medals and earned 15 podium places at the two biggest national competitions held over the summer.

First up was the dance championships, split between Haywards Heath, in West Sussex, and Kettering.

Toby Halpin-Folden and Jessica Heyes paired up in the youngest category to win gold in the "tots" couples dance at Haywards Heath. Jessica, aged nine, also claimed silver in the tots solo dance, while Ian Orchard was runner-up in the classics discipline.

The club also picked up two bronze medals at the national dance championships in Kettering, where Emma Thiele was third in the espoir solo dance, and also made it on to the podium with team-mates Summer Burke, Hollie Asquith and Rowan Edlington in the quartets event.

Bolton trio Georgia Hargreaves, Sophia Burns and Holly Ryle also made it into the top 10 of the seniors events, while Gemma Bendle and Theresa Ryle had top-10 finishes in the youth and junior competitions, respectively.

Focus then switched to the free and figure skating championships, which were also held in Kettering.

Toby Halpin-Folden and Jessica Heyes again cleaned up in the tots category. Toby won gold in the figure, free and combined disciplines, while Jessica was crowned champion at free and combined and was runner-up in the figure skating.

Bolton also had success in the older age groups, with Victoria Colomina-Borrell winning junior free gold, while Janina Kedrowski secured youth free silver, Emma Thiele was runner-up in espoir free and Hollie Asquith finished with bronze in the same category.

Head coach Nina Asquith said: "I am so proud of every skater who took part in the British Championships this year and thought that every one of them skated beautifully.

"They all should be very proud of themselves."

To add to that success, Emma Thiele and Hollie Asquith have been selected to represent Great Britain in the Cup of Europe, which will take place in Portugal in October.

Georgia Hargreaves, Hollie Asquith, Emma Thiele, Jessica Heyes and Gemma Bendle have also be selected for the British solo dance squad, while Toby Halpin-Folden, Jessica Heyes, Janina Kedrowski, Hollie Asquith and Emma Thiele have made the British free skating squad.

Chairman Stephen Thiele added: "The club are really proud of all there skaters and would like to thank Nina, who puts so much effort and time into coaching the team."