Parfit backstrokes her way to beating Brehaut's nine-year-old record time

VICTORIA PARFIT broke the championship record set nine years ago by Chloe Brehaut in the 200m backstroke event of the NRG Series staged by the Beau Sejour Barracudas Swimming Club. Her impressive time of 2-30.29 was two seconds inside the long-standing record and the fastest time of the day for the women in the 14/15 age group, despite Parfit still swimming at the bottom of the category.

Miles Munro, 11, lopped over 11 seconds off his best time to set a new record in his age group. His 2-49.26 clipped more than five seconds off the championship record.

The fastest time of the day for the men came from 16-year-old James Jurkiewicz, who swam head to head with second-placed Matthew Allen throughout, just pulling ahead in the final 15 metres to take the touch in 2-23.42 - a promising early season performance. Robyn Le Friec was first woman.

In the youngest age group (nine years) Thomas Nightingale pulled out all the stops to record a winning performance of 3-35.18 with Courtney Butcher taking the girls' gold medal in an impressive 3-31.70.

Chloe Tostevin and Harry Parfit continue to dominate the 10-year-olds section, recording 3-19.24 and 3-05.71 respectively, Tostevin received some tough competition from Chloe Macdonald in second place.

Macdonald, known for pushing hard on the motocross track, pushed Tostevin all the way to record 3-21.40 - a lifetime best by nearly five seconds.

Katherine Jensen placed first for the 11-year-olds in a very respectable time of 3-10.60.

There were some top class swims among the 12-13s with David Hall and Lotte Parfit taking the honours.

Their entered times seeded them in the fastest heat and they finished in 2-40.16 and 2-40.93 respectively.

Personal best times in the 14-15 age group came from Jacob Cherry and Sam Frank, but first place went to Joshua Lewis in 2-28.62.

Helen Sinclair recorded the greatest improvement in the 14-15 girls, placing third in 3-17.06, a personal best by over 58 seconds.