Ledbury and District ASC swam the second round of the Wyvern League at Monmouth on Saturday.

Some fine swimming enabled them to fulfil their goal of keeping in touch with the top team, Worcester, whilst holding off their closest rivals, Monmouth.

The boys swam exceptionally well, winning eight out of 10 relays, and gaining 56 of the 60 points available from these events.

In the girls' team events, the nine-year-olds were once again victorious in both the freestyle and medley races and the 10/us won the medley relay.

With a fortnight of training since the last round, LADASC swimmers were more confident in their take-overs and with some very determined swims, 19 of the 21 relay teams improved their times from the previous round.

With sound encouragement from the team, led by captains, Rachael Lea and Mark Hinton, there were 11 individual winners. Thomas James who was elected 'man of the match' the previous gala, once again demonstrated his competitive spirit with an exciting win in the 15/u, 100m breaststroke in a new personal best time.

Luke Rycroft won the 50m, 13/u event, James Middleton broke the 44 second mark, winning the 11/u race and George Parsons made it a clean sweep with a win in the 10 years age group. Ten-year-old, Emma Fitzpatrick was the only female winner of the evening with a fast 25m swim, also on breaststroke.

Eleven-year-old, Thomas Stokes failed to find his best form in the backstroke event and was somewhat lucky to manage a first with a disappointing swim.

Knowing he was capable of better he proved himself a worthy winner of the 50m freestyle in a new personal best time and was also the winner of the 25m butterfly.

In the younger age group, a rapidly improving George Bennion was in the lead right from the start in both his backstroke and butterfly one length races, finishing strongly with personal best times in both. Luke Rycroft was the winner of the 13/u butterfly 50m event.

The fastest freestyle swimmers in the age group relays form the cannon relay team in the final event of the gala. Pressure was on for the youngest team swimmer Caitlin Clark who, as the best nine-year-old, had to start the race.

A good dive and disciplined swim enabled her to give David Middleton a small lead to build on, which he duly did, handing over to the 10-year-olds, Lucy Stokes and George Bennion. With Worcester, Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye in hot pursuit, Hannah Kirby and Thomas Stokes both swam good lengths in the 11 years age group to maintain a small lead.

Susan Pudge was full of determination and with a sound finish allowed Rhys Davey to perform the best take-over of the gala, totally focused he gained precious time and managed to hold the lead for yet another length.

Thirteen-year-old Lucy Bennion was the fastest 15/u swimmer and despite a great length, going under 13 seconds, she was predictably swimming against girls much bigger and stronger who closed the gap.

It was all down to the final swimmers and no one could ever doubt that Thomas James would give it his all, but with a fantastic finish Worcester took the touch.

This concluded a closely-fought gala with Worcester on 261.5 points, Ledbury only four points behind with 257.5, Monmouth 223, Ross-on-Wye 167 and Chepstow 138.