A KENDAL contingent of almost 30 swimmers attended Copeland’s annual Open Graded Gala and enjoyed a fair degree of success coming away with medals, qualifying times and a host of personal bests.

Dan Armstrong, 16, topped the list of medal winners with two golds, a silver and a bronze.

Starting out with the 100 Breaststroke he quickly found his rhythm and setting a devastating pace he controlled the race from thereon.

Cockermouth’s Nathan Watson and Jack Edwards made gallant efforts to match Armstrong but he forged ahead and drove to the finish for a fine win. The 50 Freestyle saw him just touched out into silver medal position and another fine effort in the 100 Freestyle saw him snatch Bronze.

His finest effort came from the 100 Individual Medley where he came up against Edwards and Jack Dixon (Workington), who put up outstanding performances but were unable to match Armstrong’s all round ability which enabled him to hold off any real challenges and win with a fair degree of ease.

Taylor Aplin’s efforts also met with well earned success, winning gold and silver medals from her five events.

She had to use all her skill and pull out all the stops in the 100 Individual Medley to hold off the challenges of Zara Postlethwaite and Hannah O’Donnel (Workington).

Right from the off all three battled it out head to head and into the pressure zone all three made their bid for honours.

In the most exciting finish of the day they hit the pads together with the scoreboard showing Aplin taking gold by a split second.

Her 100 Butterfly saw her embroiled in another gruelling swim, this time involving Carlisle’s Rebecca Wilson. Again both swimmers matched each other stroke for stroke and in another tight finish Aplin was just touched out into silver medal position.

She then went on to pocket another Silver for a marvellous piece of sprinting in the 50m Freestyle.

Elliot Woodburn, ten, also got into the mix with a steady start to his day with a Bronze medal in the 100 Breaststroke.

He then improved on this result with a silver medal for an outstanding sprint in the 50 Freestyle.

His next event, the 200 Individual Medley tested his strength and all round ability which resulted in the bronze medal spot.

However the shorter 100 Individual Medley saw him produce his best form of the day where he put together a brilliant set of strokes to take the gold medal in style.

Well judged performances from Megan Jones, Lucy Sargeant and Lily Maiden brought them silver medals whilst the squads day was completed with bronze medals going to Alice Eastwood, James Escolme, Louie Tideswell, and Ollie Sargeant.

During the day Ollie and Lucy Sargeant combined to progress to the final of the Mixed Medley Team event where they put in an outstanding relay to snatch the bronze medal in another exciting finish.