KENDAL youngsters took to the road for their first team Gala of the year at Copeland to compete in a Diddy League Style Meet for nine, ten and eleven year olds.

Taking on some of the counties leading teams from Carlisle, Workington, Copeland and Penrith, they got off to a steady start with some pleasing results which left them in fourth place at the end of the first quarter.

A brilliant Individual 50m swim at Breaststroke from Emma Foster gave the squad a real boost. During the next quarter the ten-year-old boys 50m Freestyle combination of Finley Lawson, Luke Atkinson, Adam Stansfield and Seth Howell gave an immaculate display with smart takeovers and superb stroke technique to out swim their rivals and take a fine win.

The Individual ten-year-old 50m Backstroke gave Jacob Klijn his chance to shine and with a supreme effort he snatched second place in a storming finish.

Into the second half and again it was the ten-year-old boys who proved to be the leading lights.

With Carlisle’s outstanding city team leading the Gala the boys however refused to be intimidated and showing great technique and all round ability battled into second place in both the Breaststroke and Medley relays.

Sophie Gibson took up the challenge at 50m Backstroke and she too showed marvellous composure to earn more second place points. She was then joined by Natalie Pinder, Lucie Bulman and Emma Capstick for the Butterfly relay holding off some determined challenges. Approaching the closing events the 11-year-old girls got into the mix in their Backstroke relay with Caitlin Deegan, Chloe Gibson, Megan Bascombe and Lucy Sargeant blending together brilliantly and overcame a lot of pressure to take another well earned runners up spot, keeping Kendal in fourth place and gaining valuable experience for the County Diddy Galas later in the year.