TOTTINGTON swimmer Charlotte Hulme has earned a place at the English National Championships after winning the regional title.

The 13-year-old claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke at the North West Summer Championships in the 14 and under age group.

She won her first ever regional medal after making it to six finals at the event, which took place at the Manchester Aquatics Centre, where she trains with the City of Manchester team.

Charlotte has since been invited to compete at the nationals in Ponds Forge, Sheffield, in August where she will take part in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, as well as the 100m butterfly.

"I'm extremely proud of her," said dad Nigel, who coaches the youngest age groups of swimmers at City of Manchester.

"The target this year was always to get to either the English or British nationals.

"To reach this level takes an awful lot of hard work.

"She does eight sessions a week in the pool in Manchester with her coach Mark McKenna - two before school, every day after school from Monday to Friday and one on Saturday."

Charlotte, who goes to Canon Slade School in Bolton, started swimming competitively for Ramsbottom Swimming Club.

After blossoming under coach Rik Wesolowski, she was chosen to join the high-performance squad at City of Manchester, where she has been a member for the last two-and-a-half years.

Her time winning of 35.59secs at the regionals nudged up Charlotte's national ranking for her age group to 25th.

She just missed out on breaking into the top 24 by three hundreths of a second, which would have secured her a place at the British Championships.