GOTO RESULTS

The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre was again the venue attended over the weekend by Thirteen swimmers from Thanet Swim Club who this time were competing in the Beckenham Level 2 Licensed Long Course Open 2006, returning with a Gold and Bronze medal as well as a further 3 top six finishes.

15 year old, Katy Little produced a new club record for both the 15/16 year age group and the club's Open age group for the 200m Butterfly when she recorded a new personal best time in winning the Gold Medal in the 15/16 year event. Katy improved her time by over 1 second, leaving just 0.69 of a second short of a National Youth championships qualification time. Katy also produced a 10 th place finish in the Women's Open 50m Freestyle which included England Internationals in the strong field. Her time of 29.35 long course was 0.55 of a second short of the Nationals qualifying time Katy needs.

Lacey Palmer, competing in the 13/14 year age group, won a Bronze medal in the 100m Backstroke in a closely fought finish that could have ended up with any colour medal. The 13 year old had earlier thought she had won Gold in the 200m Backstroke when she surged ahead from trailing the field by 2m only to be disqualified for a head movement before the start of the race. Lacey did record a new personal best time in the 50m Freestyle of 29.47 long course, this time leaving her 0.29 of a second short of a first National Youth championships qualification time.

More club records tumbled to Louise Gates at the weekend. This time Louise broke the 13/14 year and Open age group records in the 400m Freestyle, where in a time of 4mins 46.83secs she set the new benchmark. Louise has now got down to just 2.38 seconds off gaining another National BAGCAT qualifying time to add to her 800m Freestyle qualification.

13 year old Keiron Piper visited two different venues at the weekend. On Saturday he attended the Berkshire & South Buckinghamshire ‘No Frills' meet at the Garrison 50m swimming pool in Aldershot, Hampshire where he was entered in the 1500m Freestyle race. Keiron became the 12 year age group National Champion in this event last summer, but had been plagued by a shoulder injury during this season and this was the last chance he had to gain qualification to be able to defend his title again this year.

In his typical robust style, he cruised his way to qualification, recording 17mins 40.93secs, a full 30 seconds inside the qualifying time needed.

His time recorded a new club record in the 13/14 year age group for the 1500m Freestyle as well as a new club record for the same age group in the 800m Freestyle during the same race. Hopefully, it will now pave the way to even more commanding times as he is yet to swim at peak fitness. Keiron then attended the Beckenham Open on the Sunday

and gained another National Time in the 400m Freestyle with the 100m split time being a South East Region BAGCAT qualifying time.

15 year old Sharnie Clements had a couple of close finishes which saw her just miss out on the podium. Sharnie gained a 5 th place finish in the 200m Breaststroke and a 6 th place finish in the 100m Breaststroke, both coming in the 15/16 year age group. 14 year old Jade Henson was also just outside the medal placing with her 5 th place finish in the 400m Individual Medley. Jade also put in a good performance in the 100m Butterfly where she was just a fraction off recording a new personal best time.

13 year old Jack Little recorded a new personal best time in the 200m Individual Medley but was not quite firing on all cylinders in the 100m Freestyle. Jack was just over 2 seconds outside the Nationals time but in recent weeks has been slightly closer and could still yet achieve this.

11 year old Libby Henson knocked over a second off her personal best time in the 100m freestyle to gain a South East Region qualifying time and also made new long course personal best times in the 100m Breaststroke and the 200m Backstroke.

12 year old Evie Bunte also set herself a new personal benchmark. In the 100m Backstroke, Evie set a new personal best time for both long and short course. Evie also had another good performance in the 200m Freestyle where she was less than 2 seconds off gaining a National qualifying time. Evie will be looking forward to her next opportunity, encouraged that she is getting so close to qualification.

13 year old Milly Henson recorded new personal best times in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle in which she went below 1min 06 secs for the first time. Another 13 year old, Matthew Fitt, having only recently return from a holiday, still produced new personal long course best times in both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke.

12 year old Aaron ‘Buzz' Clements swam a good 200m Butterfly race only to find he was penalised with a start disqualification. That did not deter Aaron from putting in good performances in the 200m Individual Medley, 100m Butterfly and 200m Breaststroke. Rebecca Kearney, 15, swam in the 15/16 year age group in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle races where she was smack on her best ever performances, which have improved significantly in the last 6 months, probably due to her hard training.