NINETY-FOUR young, enthusiastic swimmers took part in Skipton Swimming Club's third and final event in the Stepping Stones Series.

Competitors from Skipton and Settle Stingrays took part at Craven Leisure Centre.

The Stepping Stones series is an important feature in the club’s calendar and is well supported by backing from local businesses.

The galas allow swimmers to measure their progress in all four competitive strokes at three key points in the year and swimmers are awarded for the improvements they make throughout the three events.

The evening was action packed with fast, exciting races. All the swimmers competed over 50 metres in the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, as well as contesting the 25m butterfly.

The final results for the most-improved swimmers in each age group were as follows. The winner in the nine-year-old category was Ben Bedford, with Archie Appleby second and Daisy Picking, third.

Spencer Cook claimed top spot in the 10-year-old category with Carys Bedford taking second place closely followed by Henry Walker in third.

In the 11-year-old category the top honours went to Joe Burgess, followed by Amelia Kirkley and Lauren Taylor in second and third respectively.

It was Cassie May Brotherton who picked up the most-improved swimmer in the 12-year-old category with James Hannigan claiming second place and Sophia Beckett taking third.

Finally, in the 13 years and over category, Toby Brown was first with Jessica Hutchinson coming second and Emily Bostock taking third place.

The overall most-improved boy and girl category was closely fought, and going into the final events Settle Stingray siblings Ben and Carys Bedford looked like they were heading for victory.

With only one event left to swim it was all to play for.! For the boys, it was Settle’s Ben Bedford who managed to hold onto the lead with an overall improved time of 41.71 seconds with Skipton’s Spencer Cook coming a close second with an overall improved time of 39.02 seconds. For the girls, once again Settle took top honours with Carys Bedford swimming into first place with an overall improved time 26.71 seconds.

Skipton’s Daisy Picking had to settle for second place despite an overall improved time of 25.02 seconds.