Kingsbridge Kingfishers took a young and inexperienced team to their first Imps gala of the year with many of the swimmers representing the club for the very first time.

Despite this, the club came away from Sidmouth with an extremely strong win, showing their massive potential for the future.

All the age groups (9/U, 10/U and 11/U) performed incredibly well, winning nine of the 12 opening relays.

In the 11-year-old age group, many swimmers set good personal best times, including Shannon Vaughan in the 100m individual medley, Lily Edmonds in the 50m freestyle and Ella Theaker in the 50m breaststroke.

Alysia Stringer and Maizie Barnett, both of whom had not performed in competitions outside the club before, swam well to contribute towards some good relay results.

In the equivalent boys' age group, Fin McCoy, Ben King and Peter Tunbridge all swam well, setting some good PBs.

The 9/U girls' team performed superbly, winning both their relays and dominating the individual events. The team consisted of Ruby Barnett, Megan Carter, Beth King and Izzi Crosley.

Eight-year-old Joe Murton showed his strength, winning both his individual races. The other 9/U boys Conor Mockridge and Ben Cusack both swum well considering it was the first time they had competed in a gala outside the club.

The girls' 10/U age group probably included the most experienced swimmers of Hester Stembridge, Harriet Arscott and Ella Paddon, who all recently represented the club in the latest Speedo League. Both Hester and Ella produced some good PBs in the 100m individual medley and 50m fly respectively.

The other swimmers in the age group were Jenny Grace and Emma Noyce, who showed their competitiveness in their individual events.

The boys' 10/U team consisted of Harry Preston, who won his 50m back, Louis Gautier, who is rapidly improving in all of the strokes, and George Murton, who held his own when he had to swim in the age group above.

The reason that the gala was so enjoyable for all was because of the support the swimmers gave each other at the end of the lane which really helped the younger swimmers to compete.

Ben Cusack said afterwards that "it was the best day of my life!".

All of the swimmers thoroughly enjoyed the event and look forward to competing again soon.