A KENDAL swimming master has represented his town across the UK in galas.

Stuart McGurk has been flying the flag for Kendal and competed in local Galas but also has swum in a number of Open Water events.

He started off the season with the intention of qualifying for the National Masters Long Course Championships in Aberdeen.

He managed to achieve and he swam in the 100m, 200m and 400 Freestyle, following up with a 200 Individual Medley where he finished in 4th place.

The final session saw him take on the 800m Freestyle and overall proved an excellent experience although he was a little disappointed with his times.

His first North West Masters Open Gala was held in Blackpool and here he was entered in a fierce programme taking on 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle.

Then he turned to sprinting again and swam 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly then finished with a 100 Individual Medley.

His next outing took him to Sheffield for the National Masters Meet where he swam well up to his times for 800m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly.

Much nearer home at the Carlisle Masters Open Meet he produced a fantastic swim to lower his 800m Freestyle time to 13.22.96.

He moved back to compete at Blackpool in another round of North West Master’s events, this time taking on three events and again hit times just outside his P.B.s but had superb swims to come 5th in the 200 Freestyle, 3rd in the 400 Freestyle and 5th in the 800 Freestyle. Another long trip then took him to Swansea for the Welsh Masters Long Course Championships.

Entered in two events the 800 Freestyle again and the 200 Individual Medley he produced dazzling swims but found himself just outside the targets he wanted to achieve but never the less it turned out to be a memorable occasion for him.

He fitted into this programme Open Water Competitions commencing with the Ullswater Epic one mile swim.

In fair conditions he got away to a good start and quickly settled into his stroke pattern to put himself in a position for success.

Holding it together to the halfway mark he then began to increase his stroke rate and put pressure on his rivals Mixing it with his group leaders he pulled a little extra out of his reserves and drove his way through to a well-earned 7th place with a time of 32.41.

He did a similar effort in the Derwent Epic swim where again he produced an outstanding swim.

Amidst all this he tried his luck in the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere where despite disappointment for some Stuart managed to pull another great swim out of the hat all of which has led to him becoming a highly experienced master’s swimmer.