A Carlisle woman has spoken of her ‘emotion’ after her daughter won a swimming trophy which had been donated in memory of her late sister.

Karen Robertson’s sister, Lynsey Brown, passed away in 1991 aged just 12 after a battle with leukaemia.

Karen’s neighbours clubbed together to purchase a trophy in memory of Lynsey who, alongside her whole family, was a keen swimmer.

The trophy is awarded to girls aged between 11 and 12 at Carlisle Aquatics swimming club and has been awarded every year since 1992. The race is run over 50 metres.

The Lynsey Brown trophyThe Lynsey Brown trophy (Image: Supplied) This year the trophy was won by Isla Robertson, Karen’s daughter and Lynsey’s niece, in a poignant moment for the family.

“This event always is an emotional event anyway, but it was just made so much more special this year with Isla winning,” said Karen.

“The number of people who I've spoken to and said they were just absolutely rooting for Isla to win was amazing.

Talented swimmer, Isla Robertson with her trophyTalented swimmer, Isla Robertson with her trophy (Image: Supplied) “As Isla’s swimming journey's gone on, she's heading more towards more of a long distance.

“She likes doing 200 metres, she's had to go at an 800-metre race so I did say to her ‘you might never win this trophy - you mustn't stress about that’ but she had kind of some sort of fire in her belly that she was going to win that trophy no matter what.

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“After she won, my dad was there to present the trophy so there was a lot of people feeling very emotional in the room.

“The awful thing was I actually wasn't there to see her win.

“I was away with some friends but my husband video called me so that I could watch the final so I did watch the final from Copenhagen and then I watched my dad present Isla with the trophy and maybe had I been there, we might not have had the same outcome, who knows?”