Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Slater makes mark in opening event
ROLLER HOCKEY SWIMMING
back to East Anglia. The area has a break from racing this weekend but returns on February 24 at Charing. The first of six races starts at noon and entry is £10 per person with under-16s and car parking free. NEWLY-formed Kent Roller Hockey & Skating Academy, based in Whitstable and Herne Bay, took an under-17s team to Peterborough to compete in Division 1 Eastern Counties League on Saturday. The youthful side played out a 4-4 draw against Peterborough before going down 6-1 against local rivals HBU, despite a brave performance. Unbeaten leaders Bury raced into a 6-0 lead before half-time in game three, eventually winning 13-0 but a solid display saw Kent Academy edged-out 3-2 by Cottenham in their final game. Kent Academy: Guy Osborne, Max Osborne, Alice Osborne, Callum Soper, Darcy Sekyi, Lewis Tasker, Louis Clarke. THREE City of Canterbury swimmers competed at the first championship event of the year, the South Zonals featuring the top youngsters from across the south of England and London at the K2 50m pool at Crawley.
Tom Slater competed in three events, making the finals in the 400m freestyle and individual medley and setting new personal bests in all his races.
The 15-year-old opened with sixth qualifying spot in the heats of the medley and improved another three seconds in the final (4.50.96) to finish fourth in the under-16 category.
The freestyle also saw him produce a pb in the final and take another fourth place in 4.18.52.
Slater rounded off the weekend with the 50m sprint in the backstroke, finishing in 31.09 for 17th place and 1.2 seconds better than his previous long course best.
Swimming in her first Zonal championship, Jessica Devereux, 15, clocked 39.24 in the 50m breaststroke, just 0.9 seconds outside her long course pb set in November, placing 22nd in the over-15 group.
Eleanor Weymouth, 14, took 28th in the under-14 200m backstroke, her 2.39.85 time a two-second improvement on her previous long course best from 2011.
The Canterbury swimmers competed as part of an 11-strong team from East Invicta ExCel, with 75 clubs represented.