Two dozen members of Grantham Swimming Club took part in the second gala of the Peterborough Grand Prix on Saturday.
The event consists of four events over a period of five months. Swimmers compete in three races on each night, producing a winner in each age group at the end of the competition.
One of the best races of the day featured Keira Tyers in the 50m butterfly. Keira not only improved her time by an impressive five seconds, but also finished second in her age group by just 0.01sec. In the same event, Abigail Farkas knocked six seconds off her personal best, finishing in a respectable fourth place.
Eleanor Lythgoe, Emily Lambe, Katie Hitchcock, Abbie Philips, Amelia Peters, Maddie Barnes, Harriet Young and Ella Turner all achieved new personal bests in the butterfly event.
In the 200m freestyle, Lara Hawkes showed she was the strongest nine-year-old old girl in the field, however her brother William was not letting her get the better of him, and also finished first in the11-year-old boys’ 200m individual medley.
Thomas Lewis also finished first in his age group for the 200m individual medley, but the biggest improvements in this event were made by Benjamin Rigby (16sec) and Cameron Chow who improved by 12 seconds.
David Evans reduced his 200IM time by five seconds and Matthew Smith bravely swam the event for the very first time. Tom Griffin was also not to be outdone, improving his 50m breaststroke by two seconds.
After two galas, the cumulative points total in each age group puts Grantham swimmers in the following positions: 2 Thomas Lewis and Lara Hawkes, 3 William Hawkes, 5 David Evans, 6 Katie Hitchcock 6th.
Two rounds of the competition remain with the next scheduled for February 23.