And, alongside the gala record-breaking feats of the GSC’s Emma Bourgaize, Lily Smith and Samuel Cann at their familiar St Sampson’s High School pool, Barracudas’ Henry Bolton came within 0.06sec. of an age-group freestyle marker laid down by none other than Miles Munro.
As a newcomer to the senior 16-and-over group, Bourgaize put down an impressive personal best of 1min. 7.24sec. to win the 100m individual medley. That shaved 0.03sec. off a mark set by Courtney Butcher in the year of her Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games outing.
By contrast, Smith was competing in the year 10-11 girls’ breaststroke.
She dominated her heat and age category in a big PB of 1-30.48, which eclipsed another mark set in 2014 by a swimmer of Commonwealth Games calibre – here Laura Le Cras.
Laura’s brother Luke also relinquished a record to a talented youngster.
Cann led throughout the fastest heat of the breaststroke, touching in 1-10.37 to shave 0.45sec. off Le Cras’ age 14-15 mark set five years ago.
Competing in the same age group, and indeed just missing out on a classy record, Bolton’s senior-level freestyle victory provided a worthy finale to an achievement-filled day in the pool.
After squeezing out a marginal lead in the first 50m against Island Games-level opposition, the Barracuda in the bottom end of the 14-15 age group showed real strength in the second half to come home in 55.22.
That gave him the edge over two-time Island Games swimmer Josh Dunning (56.53), the fastest senior swimmer, and a towering age-group rival in Orkney 2025 competitor Zach Maiden (56.73).
Bolton came impressively close to taking the 14-15s record that Guernsey’s fastest front-crawler ever, Munro, had set in 2010.
The top women’s freestyle proved similarly thrilling, with Barracudas’ Elodie Riley edging an inter-club battle on the touch.
Recent Games debutante Riley had raced to the early lead only for younger rival Bourgaize to claw back the lead around half-way, but she did manage to hold on and touch in a PB of 59.34 – just 0.06sec. clear. Barracudas’ Emily Hyland took third in 1-02.34.
Contested in front of a large audience, the popular inter-club meet had opened with the backstroke.
Swimming in the 14-15 category, Megan Carter went quickest overall in 1-08.56, winning convincingly from senior swimmer Tara Kennedy (1-12.85) and age-group rival Grace King (1-14.61).
Bolton’s 1-02.22 swim was more than good enough for the boys’ title against two promising youngsters in his age group, Maiden (1-03.96) and Cann (1-07.05).
Behind record-breaker Bourgaize in the IM had been a close finish between Emily Hyland (1-12.07) and Eve Hartley (1-12.22).
Having made Island Games finals and come near medal positions in this discipline, Josh Dunning was an unsurprising winner of the men’s IM, posting 1-03.00 to lead in Spike Jinks (1-04.29) and Maiden (1-04.57).
Bourgaize won the butterfly in 1-06.28, after overhauling Riley in the second half and finishing just 0.18sec. clear. Hyland took third in 1-09.77.
Dunning took the men’s fly honours in 1-03.82, not far ahead of a very tight finish between the younger Cooper Robinson (1-04.43) and Jinks (1-04.50).
Bourgaize completed her individual treble with the breaststroke, which she won in 1-17.30, outshining King’s great swim for second by 2.43sec. Boyle placed a more distant third in 1-23.56.
Behind Cann in the breaststroke, Maiden proved a notable runner-up in a PB of 1-12.75, while Robinson’s 1-19.26 was good for third.
Barracudas’ Luke Adcock and Phoebe Sebire were stand-out swimmers from the younger age groups, winning four events apiece.
However, fellow Barracuda Ari Homan went one better with an unbeaten run in the nine-year-old boys.
GSC head coach Heather Jackson highlighted the hard work put in by her ‘amazing’ record-breakers, while both she and Barracudas’ Casey Osborough were happy with the number of PBs for this early in the season.
This all bodes well for Guernsey’s hosting of the Channel Islands Championships next month.
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