THREE Totnes Swimming Club members recently returned from the European Aquatics Masters Championships in Samorin, Slovakia.

Simon Veale was competing in the 70-74 age category, Ben Winter in the 55-59 and Kalon Veale in the 35-39.

They train at the Totnes pool and use the gym to build strength and conditioning to support their swimming. They all benefit from the Promising Athlete Programme with Parkwood Leisure.

The competition attracts swimmers from all over Europe aged from 20 to 95 and is held every two years. This year’s event was held in the Slovakian town of Samorin at the amazing X-Bionic complex, located on the banks of the River Danube.

Simon swam first, gaining silver in the longest pool event, 800m freestyle. The following day, he raced to gold in the 200IM and was just over a second outside the British record.

Ben swam the same event and gained silver, narrowly missing the British record by 0.4s.

All three swimmers competed in the 50m backstroke the next day. Simon stormed to gold, touching over two seconds ahead of second place. Ben gained gold in a new championship record which was just 0.2s outside the British Record while Kalon gained fourth place, narrowly missing a medal and a British record (just 0.06 off).

The next event was the 200m backstroke. Ben won gold, touching over 4s ahead of second place. Kalon had a nail-biting finish and won silver, just 0.7 behind first place.

Simon’s next race in the 400m freestyle resulted in a silver medal, his final race of the championships. Kalon finished his championship with not only a gold in 100m backstroke, but a British record.

In the same event, Ben finished first in his age category. The final Totnes medal tally was six gold and four silver.

All three swimmers train in the Totnes pool and coach at the regular Thursday evening club nights.