CUMBRIA Swimming Association staged its second round of the Diddy League with meets at Penrith and Whitehaven, with Kendal’s team travelling to compete against Copeland, Barrow, Cockermouth and Penrith.

The opening girls' freestyle relay got Kendal off to a solid start, taking third place.

The boys' relay followed and lead out Idris Morgan took it on setting a relentless pace. Joshua Holmes took over and held their lead to put sprinter Joseph Bulman in a comfortable position. He then handed over to Finley Wood, who worked hard keeping Kendal ahead before freeing Austin Woodburn, who stormed down the pool to give anchor man Leo Murray the task of leading them home for a fine victory.

The team stuck to its task with superb individual swims, especially from Rebecca Fisher, Annie Bottomley, Austin Woodburn all at breaststroke and Anna Roberts at freestyle.

The 11-year-old girls' freestyle relay provided the team with valuable points with Isabelle Wall-Budden leading out and storming clear of her adversaries.

Emma Duxbury held on to the lead with a superb effort followed by powerhouse Evelyn Atkinson, who gave anchor Charlotte Stainer a comfortable task of taking the win with ease.

This saw them through the first quarter, leading the field with 39 points and a five-point lead over Cockermouth.

The nine-year-old mixed medley squad showed great promise for the future with a fine win. Issi Sanderson was tasked with leading out, followed by Max Whitehead, who handed over to Eleanor King, whose butterfly proved decisive, leaving anchor Jed Tansley to take a well-deserved win.

In the individual races Wall-Budden stormed to an amazing win by a fraction at backstroke. Atkinson and Bulman were also outstanding at breaststroke and both came through to win, judging their finishes perfectly.

At the halfway stage Kendal found themselves joint leaders with Cockermouth, each on 72 points, well ahead of the rest of the field.

The next quarter saw the team hold its nerve and, though only two winners emerged, it was supported by second and third place points to keep them well in the hunt.

Again it was butterfly specialist Eleanor King who delivered a stunning swim to take a first place followed by Mathew Foster's 50 butterfly swim of the day where he matched the Copeland swimmer stroke for stroke, before injecting more pace and moving up a gear over the final length to take a clear win and put Kendal back into an 11-point lead.

In the final quarter Kendal dominated the last ten events, gaining five victories. The 11 year old girls completed a double, winning their medley relay with ease.

Woodburn gave an outstanding performance at 50 butterfly while Foster and Wall-Budden reigned supreme at 50 freestyle.

The final cannon relay was the icing on the cake for Kendal with Fisher, Murray, Roberts, Woodburn, Wall-Budden and Foster all responding with powerful swims to give Kendal the gala win with a 20-point lead over Cockermouth and take them into second place in the league behind leaders Carlisle.