HARWICH Swimming Club finished second in the Essex Mini League after a spirited effort with a young team.

The club comprised young swimmers filling in for holidaying regulars and competed valiantly throughout the gala.

Most of the swimmers were participating in their first individual event or were competing in age groups higher than their own.

However, they did not let this deter them and kept vying for the top spot till the end.

The competition kicked off with the ever-reliable Oliver Scrivener winning maximum points in the 11 & under 50m backstroke.

Scrivener also set a new personal record, bettering it by two seconds in the 50m freestyle individual event, and bagged first place.

Nancy Garner followed suit and stood second in the girls' 50m backstroke before winning the 50m butterfly event, also clocking a new personal best, reduced by half a second.

A remarkable highlight came as nine-year-old Mark Burke swam in his first individual event.

Despite being in the 10 & under age group, he came in first place in the 50m backstroke, beating his personal best by four seconds.

On the theme of personal victories, Poppy Tilley, competing in the 13 & under 100m freestyle, triumphed by knocking off five seconds from her personal best, while Sean Bibby finished his events with personal best times although narrowly missed the top spots.

Several young guns, including Herbie Pickergsill and Shaidon Higgon- Williams, put on impressive performances by beating their personal best times and collecting crucial points in their events.

The girls' relay teams also performed exceedingly well, with the 6 x 1 breaststroke relay team of Amelia Waterman, Aoibheann O’Dea, Daisy Tilley-Smith, Poppy Tilley, Jasmine Hall-Barnett and Katie Holmes performing well to finish in first place.

However, despite the resilient performances, the lead steadily slipped away from Harwich to Halstead.

Halstead took the win with a total of 181 points.

Harwich followed with 173 points, edging out Barking & Dagenham who wrapped up at 162 points.

Maldon trailed with 125 points.

A standout highlight from the event came as Poppy Tilley was awarded the 'Swimmer of the Gala' award in recognition of her outstanding effort in the 100m freestyle and her solid relay swims.

With outstanding performances across the board, the determined effort of the young swimmers makes one thing clear: the future is bright for Harwich Swimming Club.