Sudbury Storms were very nearly undone by the real life storms after severe delays getting to Eltham, south-east London, in the second round of the National Arena Swimming League.

Sudbury Storms were very nearly undone by the real life storms after severe delays getting to Eltham, south-east London, in the second round of the National Arena Swimming League.

By the time the evening's racing started, the team had just six swimmers ready. The rest of the 20-plus strong squad were stranded on the team bus in east London. Head coach Paul Cook said: “We were talking to the swimmers that were at the pool, deciding how we could fill the events with those we had there. It soon became clear that we would be in trouble by event three as this was the start of eight relay events.

“Our swimmers were changing into their race suits on the bus as we approached the pool. They literally leapt from the bus, and charged onto the poolside just as event three was about to start.”

The Storms team having had a great first round were up against the top half of the division at the second round gala, including local rivals Halstead.

They started well but were trailing in fourth place by event 10. Courageous swims pulled them back into contention by event 26, where they were second behind favourites Rochford, but Saxon Crown and Halstead were on their heels, just five and six points behind respectively.

The final eight events were relays and Sudbury hung on for second place. Three club records tumbled: Cameron Bashir smashed the 15 years 100m Butterfly record in 1:08.06, Seb Pettican broke the 14 years 100m Freestyle in 1:05.38 and Thomas Williams broke the Open age group 100m Breaststroke in 1:07.35.

Storms' has Development, Club, County, Regional and Masters squads training at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre Wednesday through Friday and Sunday - further details can be found on www.sudburyswimming.org.uk .