Butt overwhelms his coach at Crystal Palace

JO WINBERG was 'overcome with joy' when informed of Matthew Butt's excellent performances at the Southern Counties Bagcat Championships. One of two Guernsey swimmers, along with Matthew Allen, to take part in the second of three weekends over which the event is being held over, the 12-year-old from the Guernsey Swimming Club competed in five events and qualified for two finals against stiff competition.

The highlight was an outstanding swim in the 100m butterfly.

His time of 1min. 08.84sec., which was a personal best by almost two seconds, was enough to earn him second place. It was also a national qualifying time.

He was quick to mention his first trip to the podium at this level as the most memorable aspect of the weekend.

'It made the last year spending 13 hours in the pool training every week all worthwhile,' he said.

Winberg, the GSC coach, confirmed that over the last couple of weeks, Butt had reduced his PB in the event by six seconds. No wonder she was emotional when the call came through from London.

He also qualified for the 100m freestyle final in which he placed sixth in another PB of 1-03.85.

Elsewhere, he come agonisingly close to another final by finishing ninth in the 200m IM and had respectable top-20 placings in the 400m freestyle and the 200m breastroke.

Butt will be competing in five further events this weekend - the last of the championships - and said that his aims for this year include getting to the national finals and performing well.

Long-term, he has his sights set on appearances at the Island, Commonwealth and even Olympic Games.

Fourteen-year-old Allen, of the Beau Sejour Barracudas, had a very consistent weekend with several top-30 placings in large age-group fields.