ROSEMARY Swallow was one of a host of young stars who sparkled at Kendal Amateur Swimming Club's fifth club championship gala of the year.

An action packed event began with the 200m individual medleys and a bumper entry of 35 took part in the ladies' race.

Evelyn Kinnear, Grace Irving, Ruby Duxbury, Sophie Robinson and Charlotte Stainer were all impressive in the heats, but it was Swallow, along with Sophie Gibson, Lucie Bulman, Megan Jones and Bethan Rowley who eventually battled it out in the final.

Off the blocks they all got a great start but Swallow immediately began to use her power to gain a substantial lead through butterfly and backstroke.

The rest worked hard to contain her and in the breaststroke they turned up the screws and made their bid to catch her.

But staying calm and holding her nerve, Swallow surged forward and though Gibson and Rowley chased her hard, Swallow forged ahead in the freestyle to take a well earned win, with Gibson taking silver and Rowley bronze.

The gents' event produced a decisive win from Elliot Woodburn who went through the four elements with comparative ease, leaving James Escolme, Thomas and Jacob Klijn to fight it out for the minor places.

Woodburn came through to win with a fair degree of ease whilst Escolme took silver and Thomas Klijn the bronze.

The next events would decide who were this year's 100m freestyle champions and the girls U12 provided one of the most exciting races of the evening with Anna Roberts, Kate Collin and Annie Bottomley challenging for every length.

Into the pressure zone Roberts and Collin matched each other but it was Roberts who edged it by less than a second leaving Collin with silver and Bottomley with bronze.

The boys' race brought Austin Woodburn a comfortable victory ahead of Benjamin Rowley who took silver and Leo Murray the bronze.

The U14 group brought further success for the Roberts family with Sophie taking command and dominating throughout, beating off numerous challenges to take the win ahead of Isabelle Wall-Budden and Keira Nelson.

Escolme seized his opportunity in the boys' race, taking an early lead and driving home for victory with a clear six second lead.

Lennon Bell and Evan Dart had a great battle for silver, hitting the finish together with Bell touching for silver and Dart having to settle for bronze in a lifetime best time.

In the ladies' and junior ladies' championships, Swallow reigned supreme, finishing a second ahead of the rapidly improving Lucie Bulman in silver to give her a hat trick of trophies, Megan Jones taking bronze.

Both the junior gents' and gents' events were won by Elliot Woodburn to complete another hat trick for him in a remarkable time of 56.11 which was inside the record time for both events.

The gents' record in particular was long standing having been set 26 years ago in 1993.

A superb swim from Adam Stansfield brought him both silver medals whilst Jacob Klijn took bronze in the junior gents' and brother Thomas collected bronze in the senior event.

The heats of the U10 years 25m breaststroke swimmers gave supporters a view of the club’s future stars and some fantastic swims followed.

In the girls' final, Felicity Pattinson touched out Ruby Anderson-Buckley for the win with Lara Collin in third place.

For the boys, Jake Smith and Arthur Kirby battled it out and in another close finish it was Smith who claimed victory, with Kirby second and Adam Wojtacki third.

The meet concluded with the parents' race over 25m freestyle with Heather Wood lifting the ladies' trophy and Colin Fisher the men's award.