Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Long-standing sprint record falls at gala
Swimming
Faversham swimmers were in fine form, breaking four one-length club records – one of which dated back 45 years – at their sprint development gala on Saturday night. Faversham welcomed swimmers from Ashford Town, Black Lion, Dover, Hythe and Folkestone to compete in their outdoor pool. The record breakers were Mia Kirk, 14, in the butterfly (22.26), Molly Fordyce, eight, in the backstroke, with her 34.43sec beating the previous best by a club swimmer set in 1971, Molly Stemp, 15, in the breaststroke (25.89) and Nathan Williams, 13, whose freestyle time of 19.01 beat a record set in 1979. Some 30 personal best times were recorded and 14 swimmers battled against tough opposition to record podium finishes. There were wins for Ethan Sharman in the under-9 backstroke and Kirk, in the under-15 fly 15/u butterfly, while second places were snatched by Cameron Bullard in the under-9 freestyle, Lauren Scott, in the under-18 freestyle, Stemp in the under-18 breaststroke and Williams in the under-18 freestyle. The under-9 mixed medley relay team of Sharman, Fordyce, Nina Connell and Neve Smith were also second, while Sharman was third in the under-9 breaststroke, Harrison Scott did likewise in the under-12 butterfly and there were also thirds for Max Bushell, under-11 breaststroke, Kirk, in the under-15 backstroke, Morgen Jan in the under-12 butterfly, Williams in the under-18 backstroke, Neve Smith in the under-9 freestyle and Thomas Russell in the under-10 freestyle. The under-9 freestyle relay team of Connell, Sharman, Fordyce and Smith also came third. Smith won the Tesco gala star while Lauren Scott was awarded the Tesco gala shield. The last event on Faversham’s summer calendar is the Synchronised swimming Club Championships.