Improving Kingsbridge Kingfishers travelled to Central Park Pools in Plymouth on Sunday 20 April to compete in their 6th consecutive Devon Club Championships.

With previous finishes of 17th, 11th, 11th and 7th and 5th, the club were hopeful of improving their standing amongst Devon's leading competitive swimming clubs still further, but this was always going to be tough with last year's absentees City of Exeter and Kelly College both back poolside.

The event was supported by 16 Devon clubs, including arguably Britain's strongest club, Plymouth Leander, who fielded a strong complement of their international swimmers and set the benchmark for everyone else.

Kingfishers had a number of swimmers performing exceptionally well on the day, rising to the challenge as this competition demands. 11-year-old boys Laker Wong and Richard Forman were certainly on form, both taking 2nd and 4th places in their two swims in this age group. Lakers second place swim came in the 50m breastroke and Richards in the 50m backstroke, with both swimmers only being headed by the Plymouth Leander swimmer, and in Lakers case by just 0.33s with both swimmers decimating the field.

In the 11-year girls, Hester Stembridge had started the gala well for the Kingfishers coming home 5th in the 50m freestyle in a huge new personal best (PB) of 33.56. Hester then followed this fine swim up with a great 3rd place in the 50m butterfly, also in a new PB of 39.53, breaking 40 seconds for the first time in this event. Personal best times in both of their two swims were also recorded by 13-year-olds Dan Arscott and Claire Harrison and open swimmer Fiona Wilson, who recorded good 5th and 6th place finishes in the 100m freestyle and 100m breastroke respectively.

Two of the swims of the day came from 14-year-olds Jessica Rigby and Hayley Arthur. Jessica produced a barnstorming 1:17.72 in the 100m butterfly, destroying her PB by over eight seconds and finishing comfortably in the top half of the field as a result. Hayley sprinted to a fabulous 64.22 and 3rd place in the girls 15/u 100m freestyle taking over three seconds off her PB. 10-year-old Ella Paddon also sliced over two seconds off her PB in the 50m breastroke to take 8th. Boys captain George Grace put in his usual determined shift in the open category, securing 4th in the 100m breastroke in 1:10.06 and 5th in the 100m freestyle in 55.33, an event won by Leander's Antony James in 51.07.

Other Kingfishers swimmers putting in noteworthy performances were Will Rawlinson, who swam a very good PB and picked up a useful 6th place in the boys 15/u 100m breastroke and 15-year-old Aaron Rickhuss, who picked up a very good 3rd place in the boys 15/u 100m backstroke. Also appearing for Kingfishers and scoring valuable points for the cause were Harriet Arscott, Grace Mulligan, Freddie Richards, Sam Jones, Charlotte Perry and Erica Lee.

The closing five events were all relays and going into those Kingfishers lay 6th behind the recognised big clubs, Leander, Exeter, Barnstaple and Kelly College, and just a few points behind local rivals Dinnaton (who are a division above Kingfishers in the Speedo League). With a stunning team effort in which Kingfishers were only out of the top 6 once, Kingfishers overhauled Dinnaton to stake a claim as the best small club in Devon finishing in 5th place.

Coaches Karen Dorey and Sharon Mulligan were delighted with the performance, overseen by Sharon on the day. Karen said "We have much less pool time than the clubs above us and below us so we did incredibly well and continue to punch well above our weight. We have a great team spirit and swimmers who are always up for a challenge!" Sharon was also effusive stating "this was an exceptional team effort and the highlight of the year for me. I knew that Exeter, Kelly, Leander and Barnstaple were out of our reach, so my aim was to beat Dinnaton, which we did in style."

Final table:
1 Plymouth Leander - 579
2 Exeter City - 78
3 Barnstaple - 476
4 Kelly College - 426
5 Kingsbridge Kingfishers - 375
6 Dinnaton - 364
7 Newton Abbot - 322
8 Exmouth - 293
9 Oddicombe - 254
10 Devonport Royal - 253
11 Tiverton - 239
12 Torridgeside - 229
13 Torquay Leander - 217
14 Paignton - 178
15 Ilfracombe - 175
16 Tavistock - 161