READING Royals have won the iconic Redwood Trophy for the first time in 19 years after a dominant display at the Swim England national synchronised swimming junior and senior championships.

The team won a total of six medals during the weekend’s competition at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Sports Village – five of them gold.

But it was lifting the coveted Redwood Trophy for the first time since 2000 which proved to be the highlight.

The Redwood Trophy is awarded to the team with the highest combined score from the Technical Team and the Free Team competitions and Reading got off to the best possible start.

With an impressive total of 71.1924 in the Tech Team, they were the gold medallists and headed into the final routine of the weekend with fate in their hands.

Reading’s A team of eight showed no sign of nerves in front of a packed crowd and a national audience as the Free Team contest was streamed live on the BBC iPlayer, the website and app.

As the announcer revealed a score of 73.3000, they knew they had done enough to end their long wait for the Redwood Trophy.

A combined score of 144.4924 put them at the top of the rankings and it was there they remained.

In between their Tech Team and Free Team triumphs, they also took gold in the Free Duet competition, with Isobel Blinkhorn and Cerys Larsen building on Saturday’s silver medals to score a winning total of 70.4667.

Saturday seemed like a warm-up for Reading ahead of a super Sunday, as the club shared half of the day’s medals with the City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club.

Reading dominated in the Technical Duet to win gold through Abigail Taylor and Victoria Usher, with a total of 68.5301, while Blinkhorn and Larsen won silver on 67.9914 points.

The final event of the opening day saw another victory, this time in the Free Combination competition.

Reading Royals A were first to perform and set what proved to be an unassailable total of 71.200 – the only team to break the 70-point barrier – as they claimed gold.