Pilot to rescue of grounded star Tom

PRIVATE pilot Mark Munro came to Guernsey's rescue when their inspirational number-one swimmer and men's captain, Tom Hollingsworth, was in grave danger of missing the inter-insular in Jersey. Hollingsworth, who is studying at Norwich University, was delayed at Gatwick and consequently missed the last connecting inter-island flight to Jersey.

Guernsey team members and coach Alison Frankland watched from their own aircraft as Hollingsworth's plane touched down at Guernsey too late for the switch to the sister isle.

And with no other scheduled flights on offer Frankland faced the major headache of planning without her Common-wealth and Island Games star, having to concede the senior men relays and, possibly, losing the match overall.

But, thankfully, Hollingsworth was able to hitch a lift to Les Quennevais in the private aircraft of Munro, father of Miles, one of the young members of the Guernsey team defending the Governor's Cup.

Made aware of the swimmer's plight, Munro took Hollingsworth on board, flew him to Jersey and then returned to collect the passengers he had originally planned to take to watch the meet.

Hollingsworth's contribution was just sufficient for Guernsey to retain the Lt-Governor's Cup for the sixth year in succession.

He won two of his three individual events, was pipped on the touch in a third and made a crucial contribution to the winning relay squads.

Frankland was as relieved as the swimmer that he got there in the end.

'If he had not arrived, we would have probably just about won, but we didn't know that,' she said.

'I wouldn't have had another boy to swim the relays though and we would have had to give them the points.

'That would have meant us collecting eight fewer and them eight more,' she added.

Ultimately, Guernsey won by 38 but a 16-point turnaround in the relays and an inevitable hit in the individual events caused by Hollingsworth missing out would have meant a tense finish.

'Mark came to the rescue and we are extremely grateful to him for that,' said Frankland.

'We knew he was planning to go over and being desperate to get Tom there we contacted him.

'Thanks to Mark, we managed to get Tom there on time.'

The hero of the hour, Munro, said he had been happy to help.

'It was a pleasure.

'It was no problem,' added the pilot who was rewarded by his son beating an inter-insular record.

Hollingsworth certainly made his mark on the meet, breaking Simon Militis's record in the 100 individual medley when he recorded a time of 59.02.

'But Mr Munro came along to save the day,' said a grateful Hollingsworth.