Biggleswade sent a team of 37 swimmers to the Kay Hutton memorial gala at Dunstable. Overall the team scored enough points to put them in fifth place. They started brilliantly with two splendid first place finishes in the mixed nine/under freestyle relay

Biggleswade sent a team of 37 swimmers to the Kay Hutton memorial gala at Dunstable.

Overall the team scored enough points to put them in fifth place.

They started brilliantly with two splendid first place finishes in the mixed nine/under freestyle relay and the girls' 11/under medley relay.

The boys' 13/under came second in their medley relay.

The men's open medley relay brought a neck and neck finish with Dunstable's team in the next lane - both were recorded as finishing in the same time.

The first 22 individual events saw a superb spell in which Biggleswade swimmers came in the top three in 18 of them.

Alice Skehel took third in her debut race for the club in the girls' 13/under breaststroke and her brother Oscar, also a novice, took second place in the boys' 15/under butterfly.

Gail Humberstone and Ashley Andrews finished second and first respectively in the open freestyle events.

Jade Wright and Andrew Millard won the 13/under butterfly races, while Harriet Wase and Chris Corrigan came second in their 15/under freestyle events.

Yasmin Sharp took first place in the girls' 11/under butterfly and Charlie Warren was first in the girls' 13/under freestyle.

Harry Storton came home first in the men's open breaststroke and Georgina Mollison did likewise in the girls' 11/under freestyle.

Adam Connell, in his first appearance for the club, led the field home in the men's open 50m butterfly.

The final round of relays had a storming start as the mixed nine/under medley was brought home by Ethan Farrell, Emily Bradbury, Benjamin Horner and Jessica Caughtry.

Biggleswade won the boys' 13/under freestyle relay and finished second in the men's open freestyle relay as they chased the home team of Dunstable to a close finish.

The final event of the night was the cannon relay in which 10 swimmers from all ages groups compete and Biggleswade took second place.

This gala had cut-off times so that swimmers who finished faster than the allowed time did not score points for their team.

Biggleswade achieved a magnificent 19 personal bests in 32 individual events so it was not surprising that they also received eight speeding tickets and so scored no points in those races.

The next important competitions for the club are the first round of this year's Speedo League at Lincoln on October 14, and the third and last round of the club championships the following Saturday at the Saxon pool.