Kendal swimmers continued to add to their experience by recently staging another long distance event, the 800m Championship at The G.L.L. Centre.

Strong support from the swimmers, both boys and girls ensured some fascinating swimming and tactics came into play with each one having to come up with their own game plan and put it to the test.

The event also gave the Club’s Master swimmers a chance to revive their competitive skills and how they responded to the challenge. Bethany Syverson, Stuart McGurk, Sarah Bird, Guy Fitzgerald and Amy Hornby all gave great accounts of themselves.

The next heat saw speed merchant Kara Van Der Merve come out of transition and along with Evelyn Kinnear and Finley Wood set a devastating pace. Quickly settling into their stroke pattern they kept up the pressure leaving Jack Carradice, Emelia Bird and George Kinnear having to work hard to stay in touch.

Gradually Van Der Merve managed to produce a supreme effort and forged ahead. With immaculate turns and transitions she held off her challengers to take the heat in 12:09.54. The next heat saw another superb effort from the swimmers.

This time the pace increased with Jake Smith taking it on and mixing it with Ruby Ducksbury and Ava Saunders for honours whilst Elliot Dart, Felicity Pattinson and Hannah Carradice joined the action and continued to challenge for P.Bs and add to their experience.

Smith in the lead was determined not to give way and length after length showed power and skill in dealing with the pressure on him coming home ahead of Ducksbury and Saunders.

The penultimate heat brought fourth a classic with the outstanding Molly Moran producing a swim from the gods. Off the block she got a great start and out of transition set a pace that contained too much skill for her opponents to match.

As the race progressed she got better and better.

Meanwhile Kate Collin and Annie Bottomley, both beginning to make their mark in the Club began to wind it up and were absolutely superb, but had to settle for 2nd and 3rd behind Moran.

The final heat brought forth the Club’s top guns and they did not disappoint. James Escolme flew off the blocks and imposed his talents on the race from the start . Leading them out he turned on the screws and surged ahead of Emma Duxbury, Lennon Bell, Adam Stansfield and Charlotte Stainer.

With lots of controlled aggression he never looked likely to lose and in the final stages each made their own bid for honours.

The final results saw the super performance of Molly Moran clinch the Ladies Championship Trophy ahead of Emma Duxbury who took Silver and Kate Collin who snatched Bronze. Escolme’s dazzling performance brought him the Men’s Championship Trophy with stalwarts Evan Dart and Stansfield taking Silver and Bronze respectively.