KENDAL welcomed the Cumbria Swimming Association most recent Winter Meet at the GLL Centre.

A large entry was gathered over the two-day event with contestants taking part from all over the north west.

The Kendal club had a large group of swimmers attending and their results produced a highly satisfactory set of times with personal bests and qualifying times being achieved.

Particularly pleasing was seeing the Club’s young stars of the future mixing it with the best and emerging with so many medals.

Alex Wood, 9, got the ball rolling with a dazzling piece of Breaststroke swimming over 50m.

Off the block he quickly found his rhythm and put himself in a great position for success. He found himself engaged in a momentous race with Barrow’s Joshua Caine and shoulder to shoulder they matched each other right through the pressure zone and a last-minute piece of extra pace gave Wood the gold.

This was followed up with a pair of silvers. In the 100 Breaststroke and 100 Freestyle he had to settle for runner up to Caine and also added a bronze for his 50 Freestyle. Elliot Dart kept up his record, picking up three medals in the middle distance 200m categories, first of all with a terrific all-round display in the gruelling Individual Medley, then continuing his run with bronze in the 200 Backstroke and Freestyle.

Sasha Whitehead, 9, showed great skill and technique snatching the 100m Backstroke gold and then adding the 50m Backstroke bronze to her score.

Three other young swimmers having a great learning curve all picked up a gold medal each. Adam Wojtacki stormed to a decisive victory in the 200 Breaststroke followed by Jack Carradice who gave a remarkable performance to win the 400m Freestyle.

Emma Duxbury, 14, displayed great technique and coupled with superb talent in the 200m Butterfly.

A great start saw her come out of transition and take it on. Challenged by Carlisle’s Evie-Rose Sugden, she held her nerve and forged ahead.

Despite continuous challenges, Duxbury responded to everyone and calling on all her reserves in the final length found another injection of pace to give her a three second lead and the well-deserved win.

James Escolme showed the form he had recently displayed at the National Championships powering his way to five gold medals and two silvers. The 100 and 200m Individual Medleys saw him reign supreme, his all-round skill and ability bringing him both golds.

His 100 and 200 Breaststroke saw him produce a similar performance with two more wins he completed his collection with a brilliant gold medal swim in the 100 Butterfly and took silver in the 50 Backstroke and Butterfly.

Several others produced solid swims to collect minor place medals, just missing out on Gold. Molly Moran had – 6, Elissa Kinley – 4, Adam Stansfield – 3, Indie Brooks – 2, Annie Bottomley – 2, Maisey Wilson – 1, George Kinear - 1 Ava Dixon – 3 and Rosemary Swallow – 2.