KENDAL swimmers continued with the open competition at the Presidents Gala in Workington.

The squad of thirty swimmers all gave performances to be proud of, with plenty of Personal Bests and also picking up medals at the same time.

New star James Escolme was in great form and was never out of the top two in all his eleven races.

Five of these ended in victory for him.

His opening race, the 400 Freestyle, gave an indication of what was to come.

After a great start the top swimmers set a relentless pace, taking it on and matching each other stroke for stroke. Escolme found himself mixing it with old rival, Cockermouth’s Rhys Jackson and had to call on all his tactical knowledge and skill for length after length. Into their final run through the pressure zone five swimmers pulled out all the stops but a powerful burst from Escolme brought him the win with a two second lead.

His display in the 100 Free was just as devastating, but this time another old rival Ulverston’s Ethan Alpress was involved and again Escolme showed his outstanding talent and will to win.

Leading out and taking the race on there was nothing between these two over the first 50.

Then Escolme produced another injection of pace and hitting the finish together took the win by a split second in 57.25.

He went on to complete a hat trick of wins at this stroke by snatching the 50m sprint title in a time of 26.64, again involving another tight finish with Alpress.

Speed merchant Mathew Foster also gave a masterly display in the 50 Butterfly and Freestyle events but was unable to get the better of Copeland’s Jackson Jardine, with Foster just being touched out into 2nd places in grandstand finishes. Both Mathew Gibson and Emma Duxbury had similar success, each taking a 2nd and 3rd place.

Following her recent outdoor success, it came as no surprise to see her perform brilliantly in the gruelling 400 Individual Medley taking 2nd place then following this up with a superb 3rd place in the 800 Freestyle.

Gibson lived up to his reputation as a Breaststroker with a solid 2nd place in the 100m event followed by another great effort taking 3rd place in the 50m race.

Two ten year olds look to have bright futures ahead of them.

Elliot Dart and Adam Wojtacki got great starts to their careers, with Dart holding his nerve and surging into 2nd place at 50 Breaststroke then snatching 3rd places in 100 Breaststroke and 50 Butterfly.

Wojtacki came away with a 2nd place from the 50 Backstroke following an outstanding effort that was full of talent and confidence.

Five others joining the action all got into 3rd places with a variety of impressive swims.

Ellie and Annie Bottomley got three between them, whilst Alex Walton grabbed himself a pair.

Finishing a highly successful meet outdoor specialists Charlotte Stainer and Max Ainsworth took one each to give the Club a huge boost to morale.