Barracudas bite back

CELEBRATING their 25th anniversary, the AIB Tigers Open Meet, held at Les Quennevais pool in Jersey, saw the two Guernsey clubs return home with a remarkable 41 titles. The Beau Sejour Barracuda contingent ended with 17 gold, 35 silver and 16 bronze medals.

One of the very few records set over the weekend came from 13-year-old Victoria Parfit, who produced a time of 2-46.80 in the girls' 12/13 200m breaststroke to claim the record previously set in 2003 by Victoria Rebours of Tigers SC.

She also picked up two further gold medals in the 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly, as well as six silver and two bronze medals. Joshua Lewis, competing at the bottom of the boys' 12/13 age group, topped the rostrum in three events, but perhaps his most satisfying swim was the 100m freestyle in which he produced a lifetime best of 59.73, breaking the 60 seconds barrier for the first time.

In the 11-and-under age group, Lotte Parfit dominated the breaststroke events, claiming gold in the 50, 100 and 200m distances and adding a further gold to her collection with a lifetime best of 36.38 in the 50m butterfly.

She won two silver and five bronze medals. Also competing in the 11-and-under group was Cody Butcher who finally struck gold in the last event of the meet by producing an excellent performance in the 100m freestyle, recording a lifetime best of 1-09.19 to claim the title.

She also won two silver and two bronze medals.

The equivalent boys' age group saw George Moss place second to Guernsey's Luke Winberg in four events. However, the former's excellent performances in the 50 and 100m breaststroke and the 100m freestyle placed him ahead of Winberg and, in so doing, he claimed top spot on the rostrum.

Although early in the season for those looking for Island Games places, there were some satisfying results coming from the 16 and over age group, with Robyn Le Friec, Jonathon Le Noury and Ian Hubert producing gold, silver and bronze- medal-winning performances.

The final event of the meet saw Jeremy Osborne and Ben Lowndes fight hard to claim the most coveted award in swimming - the men's 100m freestyle.

There was an exciting finale to a weekend of swimming, with Osborne having snatched Lowndes' island record the previous day at the National Schools' competition in Sheffield with a time of 51.93, - both men touched simultaneously to record an equal time of 52.80 with Osborne retaining the island record.

Barracudas' Miles Munro won the best boy award in the 10-year age group for his performance in the 400m freestyle which was calculated as being the individual swim that had gained the most GB points.