Sudbury Storms were back in action, in the first round of the National Arena Swimming League, in Eltham.Storms started out against tough competition from the likes of Chelsea & Westminster and Saxon Crown, who were relegated from Division One last year.

Sudbury Storms were back in action, in the first round of the National Arena Swimming League, in Eltham.

Storms started out against tough competition from the likes of Chelsea & Westminster and Saxon Crown, who were relegated from Division One last year.

Storms head coach Paul Cook said: “We knew the competition was going to be fierce. We had a strong squad and anticipated a top-four finish, which would leave us in good stead for the next round.”

After a good start - a personal best from Laura Wolff in the first event - Storms were fourth from the end of event 10, but did not manage to improve on this position for the rest of the gala, always staying within a few points of Epping Forest but way clear of Bushey.

Storms had some excellent swims on the night, with 11 personal best times and two club records from only 50 events overall. Eleven-year-old Emily Dowding smashed the 50m Backstroke Club record, which has stood for the past eight years in a time of 37.45 secs. Thomas Williams went on to break a club record that has stood for an incredible 19 years.

Tom's 100m Butterfly swim lowered the record by half a second and has taken him agonisingly close to breaking the one-minute barrier.

Personal Best Times: Laura Wolff, 200m Individual Medley, 02:46.42; Laura Wolff, 100m Backstroke, 01:16.82; Ashley Buck, 100m Backstroke, 01:00.51; Emily Dowding, 50m Backstroke, 00:37.45; John Jiang, 100m Backstroke, 01:15.95; Thomas Williams, 100m Butterfly, 01:00.25; Chris Greenhalgh, 100m Butterfly, 01:31.20; Sam Clark, 50m Freestyle, 00:38.89; Seb Pettican, 100m Freestyle, 01:06.32; Rebecca Griffiths, 50m Freestyle, 00:33.02; Josh Pettican, 50m Freestyle, 00:26.80.

Round One Results: Chelsea & Westminster 324, Saxon Crown 302, Epping Forest & District 299, Sudbury & District 268, Bushey 178, Hounslow Hurricanes 152, Fastfins 128, Brompton Bees 117.

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 .