TWELVE-year-old James Escolme added four more gold medals to his collection with outstanding swims as more than 30 Kendal swimmers entered the Carlisle Aquatics Swimfest Gala and brought home a total of 73 medals – 22 of them gold.

Opening his account with a brilliant piece of sprinting he struck gold at 50 backstroke and then followed this up with golds for 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke and 100 Individual Medley.

Both Anna Roberts and Megan Jones collected a trio of gold medals.

In the 50 butterfly, Anna qualified in second place but in the final took the win in a blanket finish in 44.29, while her 50 breaststroke saw her dominate with an injection of pace that her opponents could not match before she moved up to 100 butterfly and showed great technique for her third triumph.

Jones was also in majestic form at breaststroke, where she dominated both the 50 and 100 events and then proceeded to show her form at 100 freestyle to storm to the win in 1:03.69.

Three other swimmers completed double gold hauls – Keira Nelson, Reece Kinley and Austin Woodburn emerging victorious.

Nelson topped the rostrum in both the 100 breaststroke and backstroke, using her power and strength to triumph over her rivals, while Woodburn – who is developing into something of a breaststroke specialist – burned off the opposition to win the 100m gold and then the 100 IM.

Kinley was to prove outstanding in the 50 breaststroke, pulling off the finest swim of his young life to post a lifetime best time of 42.36 to finish equal first with Copeland’s Jackson Jardine, before quickly finding his rhythm in the 100 breaststroke to take gold again.

Lennon Bell took the gold with a superb all-round Individual Medley in his age group and youngsters Annie Bottomley and Joseph Bulman both stormed to handsome victories in 50m butterfly finals while 12-year-old Sophie Roberts emulated sister Anna with a magnificent 100m butterfly victory in her age group.

Adam Stansfield was another gold winner. He had a number of outstanding swims but saved his finest effort for the 100 backstroke, timing his finish to perfection for a brilliant win.

11yr old Joel Saunders had an amazing set of results, taking a medal from six of his seven events and qualifying for all his three sprint finals to lift bronze, following up with silvers in the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. But his crowning moment came from the 800m freestyle, where he powered his way to a gold medal in his age group to give Kendal one of the club's most successful meets to date.