'Strip' relay provides a fun end to serious stuff

THE sprinters had their day at the annual 50m Sprint Gala at Beau Sejour. No fewer than nine records were broken.

In the nine years' age group, a hat-trick of records fell to Luke Winberg of the Guernsey Swimming Club.

He began by knocking more than three seconds off the butterfly mark and then went on to shave over a second off both the backstroke and freestyle records.

Winberg placed first in all four events to win the age group award with a maximum points tally of 24.

Two records fell at the other end of the age scale to Barracudas' Thomas Hollings-worth competing in the 16-plus section.

He broke his own records in both the butterfly and the backstroke.

Finishing first in the breaststroke and third in the freestyle gave Hollingsworth a points total of 22 to place first overall in the category.

Hannah Lamb's times in the freestyle and butterfly were new records, her explosive power leading her to 29.32sec. and 31.59sec. respectively in the 14 age group. She finished the day with 21 points to also place first overall in the category.

In the 12 years section Victoria Parfit placed first in all four strokes setting a new record in the backstroke of 35.14sec. and also take the age-group award, while Joe Ogier set a new mark in the 50m butterfly for 10-year-olds as well as taking top award in his category.

Other swimmers gaining maximum points by placing first in all four events were Barracudas Lauren Hearse and Joshua Lewis, aged 11 and 12 respectively, and Martin Chapman of the GSC in the 14 years category.

The event finished with a fun relay in which swimmers were required to wear T-shirts and shorts and exchange them at the end of each length with the next swimmer.

Needless to say there was a lot of fun to round off an exciting afternoon of swimming.