ELEVEN swimmers from Tavistock swimming club recently competed at the Devon Development gala which took place at the Plymouth Life Centre.

The swimmers excelled in their swims to achieve 45 personal best times in the 51 events contested, knocking an incredible total time of 668 seconds or 11.15 minutes off their combined personal best times.

The biggest PB achieved was by Emily France in the 400m freestyle, in which she improved her personal best by 77 seconds. She also improved her 200m backstroke by over a minute. Her brother Jake almost matched Emily by taking almost 1 minute off his 1,500m freestyle personal best. Thanae Garland-Tsirka also achieved large personal best times in three of her events, the largest being 45 seconds in the 200m freestyle.

Emily Attfield gained seven top three finishes in the 14 year old girls' age group, while Alex Francis swam to top three finishes in all his events in the 14 years age group. An exceptional swim in the 200m IM by Alex, saw him qualify for the medley skins, where an excellent third place was recorded.

Top three finishes were also achieved by Emily France, Jake France, Sarah Teague and Beth Thompson, while the other swimmers taking part: Gemma Arundel, Jessamy Clemens, Amber Francis and Ieuan Noakes, all achieved personal best times and good positions in their events.

Headcoach James said: 'It's great to see how much these guys had improved, more and more Tavistock swimmers are able to enter these competitions and do really well.'

If you are interested in joining Tavistock Swimming Club, please visit http://www.tavsc.co.uk">www.tavsc.co.uk and 'contact us'.