OKEHAMPTON Otters Swimming Club continued their travels to Honiton to swim in a five-way contest.

An interesting gala unfolded with many races being so close that the finishing judge had his work cut out to sort out the placings.

The team came away with seven first places, 16 second places and ten thirds.

Those who contributed to first places were Jenny Rice, Cameron Huxtable, Tom Bradley, Charlotte Rowe, Becky Rowe and the seemingly invincible 11/u boys freestyle and medley teams of Cameron, Tom, Matthew Westlake and Daniel Worrall - they again won both of these relays by a good margin.

With the excellent swimming on the night, seven age group records fell. Becky Rowe again lowered the 12 years 50m free and back, Tom Bradley the 11 years 4x25m individual medley, Simon Medlyn 16 years 100m free, Charlotte Rowe 10 years 4 x 25m im and Jenny Rice 16 years 100m fly. The above swims were obviously pb times.

Also gaining new pbs were Gavin Best (-4 ) off im Sam Bradley (-4 ) off breast, Holly Dennis (-9) off im, Vicky Medlyn x 2, Joe Rice x 2, Matthew Westlake and Matthew Wise x 2 (-4 ) off back.

With strong opposition swimming the relays were another area where improvement was apparent. Seven best times fell, with the 13/u girls medley team improving both of their events. One of these came from 1992 .

The final result put the Otters in fourth place ahead of Frome. This was only six points adrift of Honiton and 28 points behind second placed Kingsbridge but well behind gala winners Newton Abbot.

Four of Okehampton's swimmers also attended open meets at the weekend at Bodmin and Exeter.

At Bodmin, Charlotte and Becky Rowe entered two events each.

Charlotte, although not feeling 100 per cent, swam to first place in the 10 years 50m free in 34.99 seconds. This was topped up by gaining fourth place in the 50m fly .

Rebecca also swam the 50m free (12 years). She came away with a fifth place. In the 50m back, Becky swam well to hold off the opposition to finish thirrd. Both of these times provided her with two pbs and and a club record in the back, beating last week's swim.

Jo Cade also swam to two club records in the 14 years 100m back and 100m free. The backstroke provided her with a third place with the free finishing in ninth.

At Exeter distance open meet , Jenny Rice and Jo Cade provided the club with further Devon qualifying times. Jo's primary goal was to achieve the standard for the 15 years 200m backstroke. This she did with a couple of seconds to spare, giving her seventh place in the results. Her other swim of the 200m free placed her in 14th.These were pb and club records.

Jenny's aim was to achieve a further three Devon times. Her first swim came in the 4x100 individual medley where she managed to get under the time needed and finished in third place. Later, she swam the gruelling 200m fly.

Again, the time was sufficient for next year's Devons, sixth place, and lastly, feeling tired, she missed the 400m free time by just four seconds. Here she finished in third place once more. All were pbs and club records.