City of Bristol end decade‑long wait with Redwood Trophy triumph

City of Bristol brought an end to a ten‑year wait for the Redwood Trophy after producing the highest routine scores from the Technical and Free Team routines on day two of the Artistic Swimming National Championships 2026.

With a score of 148.3375 in the Free Team yesterday and 199.1108 in the Tech Team today, they won the prestigious trophy with a total of 347.4483.

The result sees the trophy return to Bristol for the first time since 2016, ending City of Salford’s run of success after they lifted the award in each of the past two years.

On their success, head coach Cerys Hughes said:

“I’m absolutely buzzing. It’s been a long time in the making. The last time we had the Redwood Trophy was 10 years ago, so we set this one as the goal at the start of the season.

“We have a very big squad, so it’s been nice to have a lot of input but also tricky to select who was going to swim. Everyone in the squad has put in their all and has played their part to being where we are now.

“Me and the other coaches have had loads of support from other coaches within the club, our volunteers, and our team managers who have been really, really helpful these last couple of weeks in preparation for this weekend.

“The girls are absolutely buzzing. I think they knew that it was going to be tight, especially after yesterday’s Free Team event, with just three points separating first and second. They’ve just done a really great job this weekend of staying calm and doing what they always do.”

Bristol’s success continued outside of winning the Redwood Trophy. Olympian Kate Shortman delivered an outstanding performance to win gold in the Technical Solo. With a score of 260.9675, she also received the Colin Lushington Memorial Trophy as the highest‑placed English swimmer in the event.

Her Great Britain teammate, Ranjuo Tomblin from Rushmoor, took second place with 256.6342 after winning the Free Solo yesterday.

The solos were followed by the Free Duet which saw Eve Young (Rugby) and Robyn Swatman (Walsall) successfully defend their national title, scoring 222.1458 to retain the Spencer Trophy, awarded to the highest‑placed English swimmers in the event for a second consecutive year.

Tomblin added another medal to his tally in the Free Mixed Duet title by partnering with Isabelle Thorpe from Bristol. The pair, which is heading to China next week for the next leg of the Artistic Swimming World Cup, won the gold medal with an impressive 266.2250.

Aimee Lawrence of City of Salford was the recipient of this year’s Holland Trophy, meaning she was the swimmer with the highest combined score in the Tech and Free Solo, Tech and Free Duet, Technical and Free Team and Acrobatic routines. She earned the trophy with a total score of 1235.1587.

Such as in previous years, the Mary Black Award was once again handed to a member of a Swim England affiliated club for their outstanding service to artistic swimming. This year’s winner was Georgie Coombs.

See the full roll of honour for day two of the Swim England Artistic Swimming National Championships 2026 below.

To view all results from the championships please head over to the Swim England live scoreboard.