EIGHTY competitors set an impressive 138 new personal best times and 14 new records over the 10 events at the Ledbury and District Swim-ming Club's first championship of the season.

New members took the opportunity to start their pb lists, and with a change in the rules allowing an 11 year age group to swim the 100m event there were 59 new times recorded.

The first event was the one length (25m) backstroke for swimmers aged 7 and under, and the winners were Fred van Vuren and Caitlin Clark. In the 8-year-old category Joe Bloxsome and Patty Holloway won with Patty setting a new record of 21.96 seconds. Silver medallists were Alice Quigley, Anabelle Dereham and George Parsons with Amelia Butler, Alice Parsons and David Middleton winning bronze medals.

Swimmers aged 11 upwards swam 100m backstroke which produced some very close and exciting races. 11 year olds Arron Almond and Annabelle Wilce set new records, with Annabelle winning the 11/12 year category.

Luke Rycroft had cause for celebration as not only did he win the boys 11/12 age group in a superb new personal best time, he knocked over two seconds off the previous record set 17 years ago. Joe Platt and Sarah Bethell took the gold medals in the 13/14 age group, both in new pb's and Laura West and Hywel Pothecary won the 15/over age group with a new record going to Hywel.

Runners up were, Arron Almond, Charlotte Wilce, Mark Hinton, and Rachael Lea, bronze medals went to Ruari Smith Cooper, Charlie Scott Wilson and Lucy Bennion.

The 50m breaststroke event proved the most popular attracting 75 entries ranging from seven years old to 16 years. James Middleton showed tremendous determination to win the under nine age group against tough opposition from George Bennion and George Parsons, although just failing to match his best time he broke the record which he set last year by six seconds.

In the girls 9/u, Emma Fitzpatrick proved that hard work during training does the trick when she swam an eight second pb to win, with Annabelle Dereham less than a quarter of a second behind to take the silver and Rosie Docherty the bronze, having been judged to have finished before her sister Kate, although both girls recorded identical times. Heather Farmer was a worthy winner of the 10 year old girls with another judges decision needed to separate the silver medallist, Olivia Powell and Emily Holloway (bronze).

Thomas Stokes was the boys 10 years winner with Patrick Blake runner up and Iain Campbell winning the bronze medal. Luke Rycroft set a new record whilst winning the 11/12 age group with William Spencer in second place and Arron Almond, third. With a birthday the next day, Amy Tyler made the most of being the oldest in the age group in the 11/12 girls beating Charlie Scott Wilson by one hundreth of a second. Annabelle Wilce took third place.

Winning the 13/14 age groups with new personal best times were Rachael Lea and Thomas James, both swimmers happy to finish under 40 seconds and a new record for Rachael. Sarah Bethell and Joe Platt won silver medals and Lucy Bennion and Mark Hinton won the bronze. Laura West beat her existing record by over a second to win the 15/over girls whilst Hywel Pothecary was the winner of the boys.

The longest race of the gala was eight lengths of freestyle. With over 30 swimmers in the 9/u age group James Middleton and Annabelle Dereham emerged winners with James adding another record to his ever growing list of achievements. Heather Farmer and Patrick Blake were the 10-year-old winners both showing excellent judgment in timing their pace and being rewarded with new records and personal best times. Also in a personal best time Alison Pudge won the 11/12 age group and the junior championship.

Luke Rycroft was the winner of the 11/12 boys with his third record of the gala. Thomas James and Sarah Bethell were the 13/14 winners and Laura West and Hywel Pothecary won both the 15/over and senior championship trophies. Arron Almond set a new 11 years record and was the junior champion. Runners up were, George Bennion, Caitlin Clark, Thomas Stokes, Hannah Bloxsome, Charlie Scott Wilson, Mark Hinton and Lucy Bennion.

A very popular race is the 25m Novice where entry is restricted to swimmers under 12 who have not yet won a gold medal. New member Jenny Simpson stormed to take the gold medal in 18.01 whilst George Cusworth finished in 16.93 to win the boys event. Runners up were, Hannah Kirby and Iain Campbell with Caitlin Clark and Iain Docherty finishing in third place.

Best improvement trophies went to Amelia Butler and Sam Parsons.

Presentation of trophies were performed by Mr J Middleton representing the sponsor, Sun Valley Foods, and Mrs D Mitton a trophy donor.

With five more club championships to be held throughout the year in addition to other events, an appeal for further sponsors was made by Stuart Blake.

Any companies or individuals that would consider helping the club please contact him on (01432) 769110.