Newton Abbot travelled to Bath for the 2nd round of this year’s Division 2 Western Speedo League and found themselves up against some strong competition from the home side, West Wilts, Torfaen, Christchurch and local rivals Oddicombe.

All Newton’s individual victories came in the 11u age group –  Lara Cosford achieving the double in the 50m Free and 50m Fly;  Abi Carne won the  50m Back (PB) and Tommy Whiting the 50m Breast.  Individual 2nd places were achieved by Jessica Twose - 13u Back, Sophie Jenkins – 15u Fly (PB) and 13u Fly, Richard Glanville – Men’s Open Back and Free.  

The 9-11 years’ girls’ team (Carne, Cosford, Charlotte Wright, Laura Beth Morrison) won both the Free and Medley Relays and the 13u girls (Jenkins, Twose, Rachel Cooper, Chloe Kemp) won the Medley.

The same 13u girls came 2nd in the Freestyle Relay, as did the 9-11 boys Medley team (Whiting, George Fice, Guy Bennett, Ben Gauntlet).  The most exciting race was the final event of the night - the 6 x 50m Men’s Freestyle Relay.  Oddicombe achieved a good win, but Newton led the race for 2nd place, with 4 teams finishing within 1 second of each other; Jon Trist battled out the 1st leg, Adam Boulton, Tom Burford and club stalwart Phil Whiting all swam well to keep the team in contention, Richard Glanville picked up the pace for Newton, handing over to Benjamin Jordan who produced a storming race finish to edge Christchurch, in the adjacent lane, into 3rd place by just .7 second. 

Personal Best times were also achieved by: Becky Cooper, George Fice, Jess Shears (2), Charlotte Wright, Guy Bennett and Sophie Irons. 
Also competing for Newton Abbot were: Ryan Rogers, Niall Grant, Emma Garrett, Catherine Bellamy, Hannah Barr, Jack Beer, Tom McLeman, Edward Glanville,

Final gala points: Torfaen 225, Christchurch 187, West Wilts Force 5 174, Newton Abbot 167, Oddicombe 150, Bath Dolphins 145.

Newton have now secured a place in the Division 2 final, to be swum at Weston super Mare on 8 December.