A number of Caradon Swimming Club's youngest stars took part the Cornwall County Development Gala at Bodmin on Saturday.

The annual event is an opportunity for young and novice swimmers to get one of their first experiences of competition.

Clearly the Caradon swimmers were not daun-ted at facing opposition from across the county and produced some excellent results.

The boys started the afternoon's proceedings with the 50-metre backstroke.

Jacob Coles, Ben Duffy and Paul Thomas, all aged ten, and nine-year-old Jenson Cory were all in action – and each one of them produced new personal best times for the event.

However, it was in the girls' 50-metre backstroke that the first medals came Caradon's way.

Olivia Bourne claimed bronze in the 11 years' age group in a time of 46.50 seconds, with team-mate Bronwen Hall winning gold in the same age group in a personal best time of 43.87. There was more success for Bronwen, as this time was inside the qualifying standard for the County Championships, to be held in March. Ellie Duffy, swimming in the 12 years' age group, took the silver medal in a time of 41.76 seconds.

Ten-year-old Isabel Cliffe swam a respectable one-minute, 00.48 seconds, in her very first competition, having only started swimming with Caradon Swimming Club a few weeks ago.

The boys' 50-metre breaststroke also saw a first time competitor in Cian Goldsmith, who stopped the clock at 1:10.21.

Said head coach Keith Haynes: 'I hope that Isabel and Cian have enjoyed the experience of their first competitive swims and I am sure it will be the start of many more years of success for them both in the sport.'

There were further personal best times in the 50-metre Breaststroke for Thomas and Coles. while ten-year-old Toni Patterson broke the minute-barrier for the first time in the girls' event, finishing in 59.22.

There were more medals won in this event. Ben Duffy took bronze in the boys' 11 years' age group – and his personal best of 54.55 earned him a place on Caradon's National League Team, due to compete in December in Wales.

Bourne went one place better than in the backstroke and took a silver medal, while Ellie Duffy produced a personal best of 44.00 seconds to take the gold medal in her age group inside the county qualifying time.

Full results in this week's Cornish Times.