NEWLY-PROMOTED Cirencester Swimming Club made a successful start to their campaign in Division One of the National Arena League at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre on Saturday.

They claimed third place out of eight teams, missing out on second by just three points.

There was early success with a strong series of relay swims. A number of second and third places were topped by the U11 boys' team of Danny Collins, Joseph Giles, Joshua Maggs and Alfie Beckett when they won their freestyle event.

After 10 events Cirencester were in joint-second, level on points with Chard and 10 points behind Carn Brea.

The early individual events proved competitive but there were significant points earned by Joseph Giles when winning the 50m Backstroke, with Jessica Kenny (50m Butterfly), Kaspar Wickens-Shaw (100m Backstroke) and Charlotte Pearce (100m Butterfly), all claiming third spots.

At halfway Cirencester had slipped back to fourth place, two points behind Tiverton.

The team recovered well with Greg Carter (100m Backstroke), Suki Wickens-Shaw (50m Breaststroke) and Joshua Maggs (50m Breaststroke) completing a hat-trick of second places. When Kaspar Wickens-Shaw claimed second in the 100m Butterfly, followed by a win for Danny Collins in the 50m Freestyle, Cirencester had overhauled Tiverton and had Chard back in their sights. An encouraging early-season time of 55.72 from Tom Cohoon in the 100m Freestyle was good enough for another second place and ensured the scoring momentum was carried into the final set of relay events.

The relay results reflected those of the opening events with another win for the U11 boys and a series of third and fourths which was capped in the final event by the Men’s Open team of Jordan Thornton, Max Heywood, Greg Carter, Nigel Masters, Samson Heywood and Tom Cohoon winning the freestyle cannon to maintain their unbeaten run in the league for the past three years.

This was an encouraging result for Cirencester with some strong swimmers missing on the night but available for the second round in November.

Joseph Giles won the night’s ‘Top Paddler’ award.

Final Result 1, Carn Brea & Helston 313; 2, Chard 252; 3, Cirencester 249; 4, Paignton 229; 5, Tiverton 227; 6, Bath 209; 7, Torquay Leander 164; 8, Nofio Sir Gar B Team 141.