KENDAL swimmers returned with a haul of 19 gold medals and a host of personal best times from the Cumbria ASA Winter Meet at Copeland, with a whole new generation of swimmers coming through to senior level.

Thirteen-year-old Adam Stansfield was among those who showed how hard training can pay off, producing one of his best performances to win five gold medals along with two silvers and a bronze.

He was untouchable in the 50 freestyle and butterfly sprints, where brilliant starts put him in a position for success in both events before he turned to the freestyle distance events and at 200 and 400 he again dominated to lift more gold.

And in the gruelling 400 Individual Medley his stamina again held him in good stead as he took the win with a fair degree of ease, completing his collection with silver for 50 breaststroke and 200 backstroke and bronze for 200 breaststroke.

Mathew Gibson was also back on form following an injury to win six medals.

The 11-year-old breaststroke specialist got a great start in the 50 sprint and battled it out with team mates Alex Walton and Joseph Bulman to win gold in a great 1-2-3 result for Kendal, then he also dominated the 100 and 200 races for gold.

Working hard at 50 and 200 backstroke, he had to settle for silver but returned to the top of the rostrum in the 100 backstroke.

Another up-and-coming star was Elodie Malcolm, who won seven medals including golds in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 breaststroke backed up be silver at 200 butterfly and bronzes for 100 IM and 400 freestyle – though her finest effort was in the 400 IM where she also won silver.

James Escolme, Joseph Bulman and Alex Walton all struck double gold with outstanding performances.

Escolme swept to victory in the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM but had to settle for silver in 50 and 200 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 100 IM.

Bulman’s double came from 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly but he was just touched out into silver at 50 butterfly and bronze medals in 50 and 200 breaststroke and 200 freestyle.

Walton gave performances to be proud of at both 100 freestyle and 100 IM and went on to add two silvers and a bronze, while two other youngsters struck gold – Isabella Wall-Budden stormed to victory in the 50 freestyle in her first county level event and followed up with silver for 200 backstroke and 100 IM, and Evelyn Atkinson completed the gold collection with a powerful display in the 200 butterfly, adding silvers with her 50 and 100 butterfly performances.

More success came from the efforts of Grace Irving, Leo Murray, Annie Bottomley, Jake Gibson, Lucy Klijn, Jacob Saunders, Keira Nelson, Jessie Keech, Thomas Klijn and Megan Jones, who shared a total of 27 minor place medals.