Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Langford’s golden haul
Swimming
Herne Bay youngster Charley Langford enjoyed considerable success at this year’s Kent County Championships, winning gold medals in four of the eight events he took part in.
The 13-year-old, who attends Canterbury’s Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, also won two bronze medals and achieved two fourth-place finishes.
The championships, held at Crystal Palace’s 50-metre pool over three consecutive weekends, involved more than 30 clubs from across Kent and brought together some of the fastest swimmers in the county, including Langford’s team-mates from Thanet Swim, Kent’s top-ranked club.
Weekend one featured distance events which are Langford’s particular forte and he took gold in first the 400m, followed by the 1,500m freestyle races.
Weekend two saw Langford swim personal best times in one of his least favoured strokes to finish fourth in the 100m fly. Next came a bronze medal in the 200m fly.
The final weekend was a highlight with Langford winning golds in the 200m backstroke and the 200m freestyle – the latter featuring a national standard time – along with third place in the hotly-contested 100m freestyle. He added fourth place in the 100m backstroke.
Langford now travels to Tenerife’s T3 training centre for a week of outdoor long-course preparation with his club before returning to the UK and new challenges including the South Eastern Regional Championships along with representing Thanet at the Arena League finals weekend in Cardiff in April.