Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club is celebrating its centenary year in style.
The special landmark for the club has been marked in multiple ways.
Earlier this year, it hosted the British Junior Wrestling Championships as part of its celebrations.
Leigh Leisure Centre at Leigh Sports Village provided the opportunity to increase the capacity of the competition with more than 250 wrestlers competing across four mats.
Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club representative, Lee Meadows, said: “The high attendance followed a trend since the return of wrestling from the coronavirus pandemic of high entry numbers at both junior and senior competitions.
“The success of our young athletes is there for all to see and has led to the club having numerous athletes representing Bolton on the British Wrestling Association’s northern region squad, national potential squad – under 17s - and national development squad – under 23s.”
More recently, Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club opened the inaugural senior league season with a thrilling one-point victory against Aspull Warriors to make a perfect start to its maiden league campaign.
The league features eight wrestling clubs and gives athletes an opportunity to gain experience of competitive wrestling outside of national tournaments.
Lee added: “Our club has also been working with Bolton primary school children this year to deliver 'Tag Wrestling' to nine schools with over 1,000 kids taking part.
“As a club, we are always trying to recruit new members as everyone is welcome at Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club.”
The mayor of Bolton, Cllr Akhtar Zaman, recently visited the club recently to join in the celebrations of 100 years of wrestling in the town.
Lee said: “It was a pleasure to give him an insight into the world’s oldest sport and our amazing community club.
“During his visit, mayor Zaman commended the dedication and commitment of our team of volunteers and highlighted how inclusive, and diverse the club is as we have a multitude of members from varying social and ethnic backgrounds.
“Mayor Zaman was particularly impressed with the service to the community of our club chairman Jack Holt who has given almost 60 years of support and service to Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club and our local community.
“Jack is a true unsung hero of the sport of Olympic Freestyle Wrestling and the town of Bolton.”
Set up just after the second world war, the club called many places home before it settled into its current and permanent residence on Wigan Road - originally Deane Congregational Church and latterly a furniture factory.
Lee said: “The spirit of our club is remarkable, perhaps like a circus family, including the clowns.
"We stick together and pass on our skill and friendship from generation to generation.”
If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at lewis.finney@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @lewisfinney18
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