Full of Melbourne hope

GUERNSEY'S Commonwealth Games swimming hopefuls are putting in some serious time in the water. The names of those in contention to go to Melbourne in March have gone to the Guernsey team's selection panel from the two clubs in the island and an announcement of who is going will be made soon.

The Guernsey Swimming Club's Ben Lowndes is one of the hopefuls and his training programme is typical of those wanting to go 'down under'.

Lowndes' coach Jo Winberg says things were going to plan.

'He's done above and beyond our normal calendar,' she said.

'He's travelled more than anyone else. He recently went to the Southern Counties Masters where he set a new British record for the 19 to 24 year-olds in the 200 fly.

'I'm really pleased with the year he has had. He's setting lifetime bests and he's swimming the quickest he has ever done at the moment.

'He's probably doing between 10 and 12 hours of swimming a week at the moment. He has done a 14-hour week.'

Every weekday, Lowndes finds himself in the pool at 7am for an hour before he goes off to his job as a mechanic. After work, he is back in the water at 6pm for either an hour or two depending on what day it is and Sunday sees him swimming for a total of three-and-a-half hours.

The Beau Sejour Barracudas swimmers who are also looking to go to Melbourne include Tom Hollingsworth, Jonathan Le Noury, Jeremy Osborne and Ian Hubert. Their coach, Alison Frankland, watches over them as they undergo their heavy training programme which has them covering 40,000m a week.

According to Frankland, the latest swimming event, the Gasa 100m Open and Junior Championships, was a good gauge as to where her swimmers are in their preparation.

'This was an excellent event for race practice,' said the Barracudas head coach.

'All the Games hopefuls are in heavy training so it was good to see where they are. They are all committed to the training programmes.

'In two weeks' time in Aldershot we have got a long-course south-west regions meet in a 50m pool that is the same length as the pool in Melbourne.

'Any long-course practice we can get is important.'

Two Barracudas whom Frankland cannot oversee are 20-year-olds Ian Powell and Gail Strobridge, who are both off the island. Powell is on a scholarship at Florida State University while Strobridge is a student at Southampton University.

Frankland has no worries that if selected for Melbourne, they will be prepared.

'They are both experienced swimmers,' she said.

'They both went to Manchester and they know what is needed. The Games are a magnificent opportunity for youngsters.

'I've said this before but because we have the Island Games every two years and the Commonwealth Games every four is the reason why we keep the youngsters in the sport.'

The swimming coach hopes that the selection committee picks all those put forward because she believes that Guernsey will be able to compete in the relay races. She points to an Isle of Man relay team which reached the finals at the most recent Commonwealth Games and to Jersey who have confirmed that they are sending a relay team to Australia.

'We've never had such a depth in strength in the seniors and it would be a shame not to utilise this,' she said.

'We should take advantage of this and enter a team also because they are strong sprinters. It will be quite competitive among the smaller nations.

'If Jersey can do it, why can't we?'