Youth comes to the fore as seven island records tumble
WITH just two months remaining to attain Island Games qualifying times, competition was fierce and records were broken at the Island Championships.
Held over three days at St Sampson's High School, a number of Guernsey's biggest names were present, including some of those who raced at the summer's Commonwealth Games.
But while the likes of Tom Hollingsworth, Ollie Nightingale and Ben Lowndes were chasing the criteria to compete in Jersey next summer, some of the performances from the youngsters on show were the most spectacular.
In total, seven records were broken by five different swimmers, with one of the best coming from 10-year-old Oliver Edwards.
He obliterated the rest of the field in the under-10 boys 50m breaststroke, touching in 45.56sec.
That was 1.56 clear of the rest and impressively was also below the previous record of 45.59, which was set by Commonwealth Games swimmer Luke Belton way back in 2005.
With a large number of the youngsters also bettering personal best times, it was a pleasing weekend for junior coach Debbie Le Noury.
Many of the same Sarnians will race in the Channel Island Championships in January and beyond that, some will then compete in the Hampshire County Championships.
'It is fantastic to see youngsters coming through and breaking records that have been set by people who have themselves gone on to become established successful senior swimmers,' she said.
More in today's Guernsey Press.
