WARRINGTON Masters swimmer Graham Padgett is celebrating after taking an astonishing 11 seconds off a previous European record.

At the North West Masters Swimming Championships, Padgett became the first European swimmer in the over 70s age group to swim 1500m in under 22 minutes.

His time of 21mins 53.56secs was, unsurprisingly, enough to win one of 27 gold medals for Warrington swimmers at the championships.

Mark Jones scooped six golds, two silvers and a bronze from his demanding nine-race schedule, while Judy Brown and Jackie Carribine won four races each.

Club chairman Graeme Atherton won a hat-trick of golds in 50m and 100m butterfly as well as the 50m backstroke, while Andrew Bennett swam two lifetime bests to win the 100m and 200m freestyle events.

Newcomer Rachel Byrne was also a double winner as she took first place in the 200m individual medley and the 100m backstroke.