OKEHAMPTON Otters Swimming Club hosted an inter club gala last Saturday with Kingsbridge , Tavistock and Sidvale their guests.

A packed pool was treated to one of the closest galas seen by many. There was tension, excitement and pleasure as all four teams produced very good swimming.

The Otters led after 10 events with only a handful of points between them. This, however, was the only time the local club was ahead until a highly charged last event of the mixed 10 x 25m canon relay took place.

Okehampton really had to win this event, and for Kingsbridge to be two places behind them for Otters to win the gala outright.

Leading for the first three lengths, the Otters looked on course to do what was needed. Tavistock then came to the fore for a couple of lengths, but come the end it was up to boys' club captain Simon Medlyn to bring the race home. This he did and it took all of his 6ft 4ins height to out-touch Sidvale to record first place.

Kingsbridge came in third so it was the customary dunking for Otters' head coach Nigel West!

The statistics showed that the team won 18 events and came second in 18 so it was this more consistent scoring that proved to be why the club won on the night .

Jenny Rice and Charlotte Rowe showed why they are high up in Devon county swimming by winning three events each. This was backed up by Alex Wooldridge and Jo Cade who won two each.

Other event winners were: Simon Medlyn, Catherine Souness, Matthew Westlake, Emma Pollard, Gareth Jones, Rebecca Rowe, the girls' 10/u 4 x 25 m medley relay of Rebecca Jarvis, Catherine Souness, Charlotte Rowe and Abby Hill, and the canon relay team .

A total of 21 personal best times were swum as follows: Gavin Best x 2, Sam Bradley, Holly Dennis, Aaron Diaz x 2, Luke Foubister, Gareth Jones x 2, Hayley Jones, Imogen MacCullock, Simon Medlyn x 3 , Emma Mingo, John Radnor, Charlotte Rowe, Catherine Souness, Matthew Westlake, Alex Wooldridge x 2 — here he erased 12 seconds off a previous 25m fly time from six months ago .

Many of the above swimmers bettered times by two seconds or more, so this showed how hard they worked.

Nigel said all the swimmers who swam and contributed in the relays to make up valuable points could be proud of their achievements .

'The whole club has worked really hard since January and deserve this success which has come their way. I hope they can enjoy the moment and improve still further in the near future.'

l Jo Cade and Vicky Medlyn entered the Exeter open meet recently with both setting pb times in all the swims they entered, Jo in the 100m back and free, Vicky in the 50m fly.