Ellie Chappell.

Four swimmers from Clevedon Swimming Club picked up the top boy and girl awards at a recent open meet.

THE fifth Clevedon & Chard Open Meet at Hutton Moor proved again to be a popular meet, with entries full well before the closing date and many swimmers turned away.

The event was hosted by Clevedon & Chard swimming clubs and was sponsored by Hotspring South West.

Clevedon has always prided itself on its wealth of enthusiastic and talented volunteers and the workforce again pulled together to produce a well-run event. While the swimmers, quite rightly, get the glory, the club wish to thank the incredible workforce that the club is so lucky to have.

Turning to the swimming, the club itself had the largest entry of all clubs, with 69 swimmers competing producing an amazing total of 178 personal best times between them.

Top boy and girl awards were picked up by four Clevedon swimmers. Junior captain, 13-year-old Elena Crossan was top in her age group with 31 points amassed from five swims, all in top five positions including gold in the 200m breaststroke, and silver in both the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly.

In the same age group for the boys, George Leaman, junior captain swam seven events, picking up two golds, three silvers and two bronze medals on his way to 49 points and top boy award.

Fourteen-year-old Ellie Chappell was on fire for the meet which saw her swim personal best times in all five events she swam. She was rewarded for her efforts with no less than four gold medals in the 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m breaststroke, picking up the best girl trophy in her age group with 38 points.

Gwillym Watkins, aged 14, stormed ahead in his age group with five gold medals from his six swims in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley and silver in the 100m freestyle.

Winning his age group with 47 points and producing long-awaited personal best times in the 100m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle, Gwillym is ending the season on a high note.

In addition there were gold medal performances from Sam Hodge in the 100m butterfly, Poppy Leaman (50m backstroke), Sam Thomas (100m and 200m breaststroke), Ellen Gentry (200m IM), Steph Reynolds (100m and 200m breaststroke), Callum Greenwood (100m backstroke) and Charlie Goss in the 50m backstroke.

But the most rewarding gold medal had to be for masters swimmer Jenni Gilbert (20), who has been away at university, has hardly trained but came to support the meet and swam to gold medal position in the gruelling 100m butterfly, beating her 15-year-old rivals by almost four seconds.

Other swimmers were knocking large chunks off their personal best times, with 10-year-old Charlie Goss showing the best improvement on the day with a 41 second PB in 200m freestyle. Nelly Bridger Morales, Francesca Coveney, India Gibson, Robert Jones and Luke Maidment all smashed previous best times by more than 30 seconds.

Clevedon ASC currently have a waiting list of swimmers wishing to join the club, so if you would like your child to experience competitive swimming with a supportive club and a proven track record, visit the club’s website at www.clevedonasc.co.uk to get more details on how to join.