KENDAL swimmers produced some fabulous performances including a host of personal best time in the final round of club championships – and particularly exciting was the show put on by swimmers in both the Ladies and Gents 200m Individual Medley.

The final heat of the ladies race, butterfly and backstroke sections, saw Sophie Gibson, Rosemary Swallow, Megan Jones and Sophie Richardson match each other stroke for stroke, and into the breaststroke it was Jones who broke free to get in front, with Swallow second.

The front crawl leg produced a classic finish with Jones just managing to hold off Swallow to win by five-hundredths of a second, with Richardson in third.

Equally fine performances came in the gents race, where the clash for the trophy came down to Elliot Woodburn, Thomas Klijn and Ben Cudby, with Woodburn emerging as the winner in a time of 2.22.51, ahead of Klijn in silver with Cudby collecting bronze.

The girls under-12 100m freestyle produced a new kid on the block, with Isabelle Wall-Budden powering her way to victory over fast finishing Evelyn Atkinson and Grace Airey, while the under-12 boys also saw Jake Gibson come through to win ahead of Mathew Foster and Joseph Bulman.

In the under-14 girls it was Lucie Bulman who showed outstanding skill to triumph over Sophie Roberts and Wall-Budden in a storming finish while the boys group brought together a crop of up-and-coming prospects with Elliot Woodburn, Adam Stansfield, James Escolme, Max Ainsworth, Lennon Bell and Jake Gibson all in contention. It was Woodburn who found the extra gear to finish ahead of Stansfield and Escolme.

The club’s premiere events of the year were the combined senior and junior freestyle championships with 51 girls competing, and the final produced a classic with Richardson, Swallow, Jones, Bulman, Lucy Sargeant and Susanna Corrie all fighting for the honours.

Off the blocks it was Swallow who forced the pace to stamp her authority on the race, and she held her nerve to give her the win and her first ever club championship.

In the boys race, Ollie Sargeant successfully defended his championship, though it was no easy task as Thomas Klijn, Elliot Woodburn, Ben Cudby, Jacob Klijn and Adam Stansfield all made determined challenges all the way to the finish, with Thomas Klijn and Woodburn finishing second and third respectively.

As the gala began to wind down, the 25m breaststroke championships for the under-10s saw Jake Smith and Elissa Kinley emerge as gold medallists, with Leo Murray and Rebecca Fisher in silver and Jarno Stander and Amelia Bird taking bronze.

And the parents open 25m freestyle race was won by Colin Fisher ahead of Simon Collin and Martin Saunders.