SWIMMER Keiron Piper has won a national championship title.

The Thanet Swim Club member won the 12 years boys’ 1500m freestyle gold medal by more than 11 seconds in the Cheestring ASA National Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, on Monday.

He had already won the bronze medal in the 400m freestyle the previous evening, one of eight events for which he qualified.

In the 1500m final he smashed his club record and personal best time by nearly 30 seconds, to clock 17min 28.71sec.

Piper said: "It really hurt to keep going but all I could think about was to win the gold."

Head coach David Whorlow said: "That was special. Keiron paced it to perfection. He consistently hit 1min 10 sec for each 100m and still finished at speed."