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News Archive 2000-2005

Year 2007

The Dover Lifeguards Presentation evening was held on the 15th December in the towns Working Mens Club. The evening opened with awards for the British Long Distance Swimming Association 1 hour postal swim: Alice Latham, Katie Latham, Shannon Smith, Grace Beer, Megan Basford, Megan Curtis, Katie Brown, Amy Gibbs, Natasha Hyde, Laura Austin, Corriene Miller, Charlotte Hyde, Gemma Prosser, Stephanie Jordan, Amy Bacmeister, Kaira Redman, Siobhan Philpott. For the boys there were awards for: Ben Evans, Jamie Woodard, Matt Austin, Callum Basford, Evan Waters, Sam Gibbs, Dan Latham, Sacha Wild, Callum Haywood, Callum Meadows, Tom Latham, Dan Seagrove-Castle, Matt Farran, Sam Woodard, Oliver Latham, Lewis Young, Luke Menniss, Tom Russell, Stirling Mason and Peter Hanson. Individual medal winners were girls 14/15 Gold Laura Austin, Ladies 20/24 Silver Kaira Redman and Boys 12/13 Bronze Dan Seagrove-Castle. The team also got silver in the girls 10 and under relay, bronze in the girls 10/11 and gold in the 12/13 and 14/15 girls age groups. There was also a bronze for the boys 12/13 team.

In the Club Championships there were medals for in the boys under 10 1st) Dominic Wild 2nd) Christopher Clarke 3rd) Kyle Kent and in the girls under 10 1st) Shannon Smith 2nd) Mollie Allen 3rd) Kira Tranter. In the 10-12 age group boys 1st) Sam Gibbs 2nd) Ben Evans 3rd) Callum Basford and in the girls 1st) Megan Basford 2nd) Megan Curtis 3rd) Grace Beer. In the 13-16 age group boys 1st) Matt Farran 2nd) Tom Russell 3rd) Sam Woodard and in the girls 1st) Laura Austin 2nd) Katie Brown 3rd) Natasha Hyde. In the Senior age groups mens 1st) Dima Miller 2nd) Matt Basford 3rd) Nakai Redman and ladies 1st) Kaira Redman 2nd) Laura Basford 3rd) Sophie Mitchinson with Siobhan Philpott winning the masters.

There were also awards for Kyle Miller who won the Bill Charlesworth Trophy for achievement in the small pool, Callum Haywood won the Gaunt Shield for the most improved swimmer, Kaira Redman won the Mitchell cup for the ladies 1500m swim with Laura Austin taking the Denis Poltock cup for 13-16 yr girls 800m swim. The Hughes cups for 1500m swim for 12/u was won by Sam Gibbs and Megan Curtis won the girls Hughes trophy for her 800m swim.

In the Open water lifesaving there were awards for Katie Brown (1st intermediate girls) and Tom Russell (1st intermediate boys) with first places for nakai and Kaira Redman in the Mens and ladies events.  The overall open water lifesaving champion was Nakai Redman. There was also a pool based lifesaving competition and this produced a 1st place for Natasha Hyde in the junior girls and in the intermediate competition the result was, Charlotte Hyde 1st, Katie Brown 2nd, Laura Austin 3rd, and Tome Russell 1st boy.  There were also a number of awards for the Water polo section of the club-Junior player of the year Byron Penny, Players player Kye Westgarth, Top scorer Dima Miller (3rd year running), and Coaches player of the year Simon Gedge.

There were awards for endeavour in the open water section with Tom Russell and Natasha Hyde Winning the Jeron and Peckham memorial trophies. The Club captains trophies were awarded to Charlotte Hyde and Tom Russell and the friends of Dover lifeguard club made the presentation of the "good egg" cup to Scott Walker for the tireless work he puts in to organising events , trips and helping keeping the club running on a day to day basis.

Thanks to Dephotos.co.uk for the photographs of the evening and to the friends for all of their organising and the excellent food provided.

The youngsters of the Dover Lifeguards Development squad travelled to the Black Lion Pool in Gillingham on Saturday determined to continue their excellent form in this series of competitions. The team were facing an uphill task as both the boys and girls numbers were greatly reduced due to other commitments. The girls were actually travelling with a team that was half of their usual squad size.

The Dover team went into the competition fighting with a positive attitude and produced a good set of results. The team knew that because of their depleted numbers they had to make a strong start as the effects of swimming so many races throughout the night would take its toll and make it difficult to swim to their best as the night went on.

The gala opened with a fine display of stroke technique in the breaststroke squadron relay. The ‘guards team led from start to finish with the lead gained by Shannon Smith on the first leg never being under threat from the competition as each swimmer  stretched the lead further. Shannon was followed by her team mates –Dominic Wild, Kieron Menniss, Callum Haywood, Evan Waters, Luke Menniss, Sam Ward, Mollie Allen, Grace Beer, Gemma Lawson, Amy Gibbs and Abi Taylor Baptie, who all combined to produce an excellent team performance.

The team had such a determined start to the gala that by the half way point they were narrowly in the lead.Gemma Lawson had produced the first of Dover’s wins in the individual races in the 11/u breaststroke. This was to be followed with more first places from Mollie Allen (10/u back, 11/u back), Christopher Clarke(10/u back), Luke Menniss (15/u breast), Shannon Smith (9/u breast/Back and fly), Amy Bacmeister (15/u back), Ben Evans (9/u Back and Fly), Sam Ward (18/u breast). This good set of results wa supported by 2nd places from Mollie Allen (9/u freestyle,10/u fly), Callum Meadows (10/u 100IM), Steph Jordan (18/u fly), Dominic Wild (9/u breast), Luke Menniss(15/u back), Tom Russell(18/u freestyle, 18/u 100 IM),and  Grace Beer(11/u fly,11/u freestyle) .There were speeding tickets, which are a badge of honour in these gala’s for Jamie Woodard (11/u fly), Ebony Wright (10/u freestyle), and Callum Haywood (11/u freestyle).

The relay teams also played their part with all of the 9/u relay teams finishing 1st, this was a excellent performance from Ben Evans, Kyle Kent, Mollie Allen, Shannon Smith and Dominic Wild. The 11/u medley team also finished 1st with Callum Haywood (bk), Grace Beer(br), Jamie Woodard (fly) and  Gemma Lawson(fs) digging deep to finish 5 metres ahead of the competition. The 18/u medley team of Laura Basford, Sam Ward, Amy Gibbs and Tom Russell also showed a great team spirit to touch ahead of the other team and bring in maximum points. Despite having the smallest squad at the gala the team had performed well and found themselves in a strong position going into the last race of the night, the squadron freestyle relay. The noise was deafening as the Dover team led from start to finish, extending their lead over each leg and finishing almost a full length ahead of the 2nd placed team.

When the points were totalled at the end of the night the Dover team were narrowly edged into 3rd place by just 4 points, a major achievement considering the amount of swims the team had to put in. “This was a true indication of the fitness ,determination and spirit of this team” Coach Tim Hyde said at the end of a hard evening.

Dover finished the years east Invicta championships off with some good performances on Friday night at the Kingsmead pool in Canterbury. There were 4th place finishes for The junior boys team of Mathew Farran, Callum Basford, Sam Gibbs and Sam Ward in both the freestyle and Medley races. The Junior Girls Freestyle team of Laura Austin, Amy Gibbs, Charlotte Hyde and Ione Walker finished 5th. The Junior girls Medley Team of Megan Basford (bk), Charlotte Hyde (br), Natasha Hyde (fly) and Ione Walker (fs) finished in second place. The senior girls also finished fourth in both the freestyle and medley relays maintaining their seeded place was a good performance from Amy Gibbs, Laura Basford, Laura Austin, Charlotte Hyde and Ione Walker.

In the 1500m freestyle there were good performances from Sam Woodard, Luke Menniss and Tom Russell. Luke and Tom both putting in massive personal bests. When these fi4nal points were added to the championship points the guards had finished 4th in the girls competition, 3rd in the boys and 3rd in the relays. This was an impressive display from a team that has undergone a lot of changes within the last year.

On the 2nd of September Dover Lifeguard club hosted this years Keith Gilman Trophy open water relay race. The 'guards were hoping to win back the trophy after last year being nipped into 2nd place.

There was a fairly strong on-shore breeze creating some quite choppy conditions for the swimmers but all rose to the challenge superbly. The race is a 4 x 1000m relay which tests the stamina and depth of a teams resolve and the lifeguard teams swam well to finish in 1st and 3rd place.

The 1st place team consisted of Laura Austin, Sophie Mitchinson, Craig Simmons and Mathew Farran, they all swam well and finished a few seconds ahead of a strong team from Canterbury.

The lifeguards 3rd place team was made up of Tom Russell, Katie Brown, Chris Keen and Kaira Redman.

The youngsters of Dover Lifeguards club travelled to Kingsmead Pool to take part in the Canterbury Development Gala on Saturday.  The Guards have enjoyed a recent run of success in this series and they were looking to maintain this momentum.  The team had drafted in a large number of debutants, some of whom had only been training in the big pool for a few weeks. 

The first individual race of the night was the 18/u girls 50m backstroke and Stephanie Jordan fought hard throughout, to be just touched out into 2nd place in a time of 36.68.  9yr old Ellie Weymouth swan in the 10/u 100m Individual Medley, putting in a great performance and being awarded a speeding ticket with a time of 1.38.03. Tom Latham, swimming the same event, this time for the boys put in a determined performance to finish 2nd in 1.43.41.

The Youngest members of the team turned on the style in the 9/u freestyle relay and Jamie Woodard, Connor Miller, Kate Holt, and Mollie Allen fought hard to finish in 2nd place.  In the 9/u breaststroke, two of the clubs newest big pool swimmers, Mollie Allen and Dominic Wild, started their swimming careers with a bang when they both finished in first place. Mollie in 54.20 and Dominic in 54.91.  Hannah Delo put in a good strong performance in the 12/u 100 IM to come home in 2nd place. This was followed by one of the most determined performances of the night form Olly Latham. Olly was 3rd after the fly leg of the race but pulled back to lead after the backstroke. Olly saw his lead disappear in the breaststroke leg but showed great spirit to fight back in the freestyle leg and touch first in a blistering last length.  Amy Gibbs was in impressive form as she finished 2nd in the 18/u freestyle and 18/u breaststroke. Katie Latham led from start to finish in the 11/u fly. Shannon Smith copied this feat in the 9/u backstroke to finish comfortably ahead of field in 44.61.  Connor Miller, another debutant fought hard throughout his backstroke race and was narrowly beaten into 2nd place, a great first time swim.  Katie Brown recorded a 2 second personal best in the 18/u 100 IM and finished 2nd. The 9yr olds again turned on the style to finish 1st in the medley relay, Shannon Smith, Mollie Allen, Jamie Woodard, Connor Miller, showed a great team effort that belied their young age.  Shannon Smith turned in another great swim to finish in 46.90 in the 9/u fly and gain 2nd place. Jamie Woodard then stormed home in the 9/u fly to finish well ahead of the opposition and yet another 1st place for the team.

In the 12/u backstroke Megan Curtis finished 2nd with a time of 41.92, quickly followed in the boys 12/u backstroke with a first place for Ben Evans in 41.43.  In the 15/u freestyle Tasha Hyde stormed the race from start to finish touching home in a personal best time of 32.95.  This was repeated in the boys 15/u freestyle when Luke Menniss fought a hard race and with a determined sprint to the finish touched first in 31.55.  In the last event of the evening the guards team lead from the start, Shannon Smith giving the team a lead that was narrowed as the race progressed, but, with fine performance from the whole team, the final legs from, Luke Menniss, Laura Basford, and Stirling Mason saw the team home in 1st place.
The noise from spectators was deafening. When the points were totalled at the end of the evening the lifeguards had finished 3rd despite having a high ration of new swimmers.

Acting Coach Tim Hyde said, "The strength and determination of the youngest members of the squad is fantastic. This points towards a great future for the team."  On the night there were awards for:

Best Boy: Luke Menniss
Best Girl: Mollie Allen
Best Overall Performance: Stirling Mason.

Dover Lifeguards had home pool advantage at the Ashford development gala at the weekend.  The gala was held at the Dover Leisure Centre because the Stour Centre is still under reconstruction and modernisation.

The first quarter of the gala saw a clutch of first places for the young ‘guard’s squad. The squad also continued its recent form of high personal best rate and this was reflected in the results with first places for; Shannon Smith (9/u f/s 37.77 PB), Callum Basford (12/u fly 38.07 PB) and Callum Haywood (10/u back 48.04 PB).  There were also PB’s for Stirling Mason (18/u back), Emily Naylor (11/u breast), Matt Menniss (11/u breast), Matt Austin (9/u f/s), Mollie Allen (10/u back) and Luke Menniss (15/u breast).  In the 10/u 100 IM both Shannon Smith and Dan Latham smashed their previous best times to record 1.34.29 and 1.36.26 respectively and grab speeding tickets for their first class performances.

The second quarter of the gala had more good swims and was opened by Laura Basford who came home in second place in the 18/u fly in a time of 34.67. There was a second place for Lewis Young in the 12/u f/s and Dan Latham in the 10/u fly in a new best time of 52.93. Shannon Smith again pulled out all the stops and finished first in the 10/u fly in a PB time of 46.02, quickly followed with another first for the team from Charlotte Hyde in the 15/u back (38.56 PB). This quarter of the gala was rounded off when Hannah Delo produced a two second PB in the 12/u 100 IM to romp home in first place.

The second half of the gala saw the lifeguards in third place and they dug deep to produce a stunning set of results with 14 consecutive personal bests. These included first places for Katie Latham (11/u fly 40.50), Ellie Weymouth (9/u back 44.77), Ben Evans (9/u back 43.65), Ebony Wright (10/u f/s 40.00), and Katie Brown (15/u fly 36.09). When Callum Haywood finished with a personal best and second place in the 10/u f/s the team had climbed to second place in the gala standings.

The last quarter had the Dover team closing the gap on the leaders of the night with almost every result; 1st place from Amy Gibbs in the 18/u breast with a great start, quickly followed by Adam Delo’s 2nd place and personal best in the 18/u breast in a time of 37.77. Ellie Weymouth produced another first place in the 9/u fly and Jamie Woodard emulated this for the boys in the 9/u fly with a PB of 44.44. Oliver Latham snatched first place in the boys 12/u back, Tom Russell followed this with a storming swim and first place in the 15/u f/s in a new personal best time on 31.15.

Going into the last relay Dover and Folkestone were neck and neck with equal points and all to swim for. The young stars from Dover dug deep and lead from start to finish in the mixed squadron freestyle relay. This secured first place and the winners’ trophy for the young and dynamic team.

There were awards to those swimmers who had performed exceptionally through the night these went to; Tom Russell (best boy), Fiona Robertson (best Girl) and Shannon Smith who won best Swimmer of the night.  Acting coach Tim Hyde was quick to praise the team; “We had a number of debutantes swimming this evening and they all produced the goods on the night. This is thanks to the hard work from the team managers, coaching staff and helpers. The more experienced swimmers put everyone at their ease and were excellent role models. The team spirit was superb and I honestly believe that this is what made the difference and secured the first place trophy.”

Dover lifeguard club’s young swimmers have enjoyed some unprecedented successes over the past 6 weeks of competition, with all of those attending showing positive attitudes to all of their swims and almost all recording personal best performances. Some returned having secured top 6 ranking places in the county and others coming home as champions across various age groups, distances and strokes.

For the boys there were great performances from:

Ben Evans 9 yrs (5th 50 fs and 2nd 50 fly)

Jamie Woodard 9yrs (10th 50 fs).

Sacha Wild 10yrs (2nd 200 breast)

Sam Woodard 12yrs (2nd 100 bk, 6th 50fs, 200fs, 200bk, 7th 200 IM, 9th 50 br, 100IM)

Callum Basford 12yrs (11th 200IM, 15th 50 bk, 22nd 50 fs)

Mathew Farran 13yrs (3rd 100 bk, 6th 200bk, 13th 100 fs)

Daniel Seagrove Castle 13 yrs (1st 200 fly,3rd 1500fs,50fs,200fs, 5th 400 fs,6th 100 fs,100 fly, 7th 100 bk,50 fly, 10th 200 IM,100IM, 11th 50bk)

Mathew Basford 17/18 yrs (2nd 50 fly, 3rd 50 bk, 6th 100 IM, 7th 100 bk, 9th 100 fs, 11th 200bk)

Rob Messenger open age group (1st 50 br)

Dima Miller (2nd 50 br)

The girls from the ‘guards team also had some huge successes:

Shannon Smith 9yrs (2nd 50 back)

Megan Curtis 10yrs (4th 200 fly)

Katie Latham 10yrs (3rd 50 back)

Alice Latham 10yrs (8th 200 breast)

Tasha Hyde 12yrs (5th 50 fly and 200 fly, 6th 100fly)

Megan Basford 12yrs (1st 50 back, 6th 200 back, 11th 200 breast, 12th 100 fly, 13th 100 back)

Katie Brown 13yrs (3rd 800 fs, 8th 200 back)

Domi Szucsova 13yrs (2nd 1500 fs (5th open), 4th 400 IM, 6th 200 fly, 9th 50 fly and 11th 100 IM)

Laura Austin 15yrs (2nd 1500 fs ( 4th open)13th 100 back, 6th 200 back)

Charlotte Hyde 15yrs (5th 50 and 100 breast)

Kaira Redman Open (5th 200 fly, 11th 400 IM)

This set of results left the club in a strong position in the points table considering the squad is small in comparison to some of the clubs from the north and west of the county.

The biggest success for the club came from one of its younger swimmers. 11 year old Sophie Weymouth was in awesome form as she recorded personal bests almost every time that she hit the water.  Her list of results was impressive and she tackled each swim as if it were her first, always enthusiastic and ready for the challenge, her results were as follows: 1st 800 freestyle a new Kent record,  1st 200 fs,400 fs,200 bk,200 IM,200 br,  2nd 100 br,100 bk,  3rd 100 fs,  4th 200 fly,  5th 50 fly,  6th 50 fs,  9th  50 bk.  This set of results from this young star saw her awarded the top award possible for a youngster at county level when she was awarded first place in the “BAGCAT” awards category. (British Age Group Category)

Points are awarded for each swim and for each placing, Sophie comfortably beat off competition from the best swimmers in the county in her age group which contributes to national ranking points.

Acting coach Tim Hyde was pleased with the squads performance, "This set of results from the squad has shown some good foundations for the upcoming south east regional championships and we look forward to them with relish. We have had some hard times of late but they seem to be behind us, onwards and upwards is the way this squad is moving".

Dover Lifeguards at the Kent Secondary Schools Gala

he swimmers at the Portsmouth Open swam well.  The morning started well with Dan Seagrove-Castle 13yrs knocking 3 seconds off his pb for 200m Free finishing strong in 1st place 5 seconds ahead of the 2nd position with a time of 2.12.16.  He also competed in 100m Fly 1st Place 1.12.31, 200m IM finishing in 5th place in 2.42.13 pb, 100m Back finishing 6th and 100m Free 1st place with another pb of 1.02.10.

Dominika Szucsova 13yrs competed in 1500m free with a 4th place, a good 200m free.

Sam Woodard 12yr competed in 200m IM finishing 2nd in 2.46.89 pb, 100m Back finishing 3rd, 100m Breast finishing in 6th place in 1.36.83 pb.

Jamie Woodard 9yrs 50m Back 45.38 3 sec Pb, 50m breast 58.21 Pb.

Saskia Seagrove-Castle 10yrs 50m Back 44.19 Pb, 50m Breast 55.28 Pb.

Alexander Wild 10yrs 50m Back 47.76 3 sec Pb, 50m breast finishing 3rd 47.92 pb, 50m butterfly 49.08 pb.

Ashley Higgins 12 yrs competed in 100m Back, 100m Breast and 100m Free swimming well but just outside his pb's.

Luke Menniss 13yrs 100m Back 1.24.91 Pb and 100m free 1.11.91 2 sec Pb.

Sophie Morgan 13 yrs 200m free 2.41.86 2 sec Pb.

Laura Austin 15yrs competed in the 800m free finishing in 4th place.

Dover Swimmers at Kent Secondary Schools Gala

Dover Lifeguards took a team comprising of a mixture of experienced and first time swimmers to their own pool where Folkestone Swimming Club were hosting the first team gala of 2007.

The gala started well for the team with what has become the normal first place finish in the squadron breaststroke relay, the Dover team finishing over half a length ahead of the rest of the competition.

In the first series of the individual events the ‘guards had an almost 100% PB rate which was opened by Gemma Prosser in the 18/u backstroke (36.50 2nd). This was quickly followed with PBs by Iain Hunter (18/u back 38.25), Alice Latham (11/u breast 47.32 1st), Shannon Smith (9/u free 38.23 1st), Jamie Woodard (9/u free 36.11 1st), Katie Brown (12/u fly 37.92 1st), Callum Basford (12/u fly 38.07 1st), Amy Gibbs (15/u breast 40.65 1st) and Sam Woodard (15/u breast 42.29 2nd). This set of results left the team in 2nd place and when the 9/u freestyle relay team and 15/u medley relay team both finished first they added more valuable points to the pot.

In the second quarter of the gala, there were PBs from Evan Waters (11/u back 43.66 1st), Courteney Tranter (9/u breast 56.62 2nd), Callum Austen (9/u breast 59.06), Katie Latham (12/u free 35.90), Lewis Young (12/u free 36.05 2nd), Dan Latham (10/u fly 55.50), Steph Jordan (15/u back 36.33 1st), Luke Matcham (15/u back 37.57) and Oliver Latham (12/u IM 1.28.04 1st). The 18/u freestyle relay team showed great determination to finish 2nd and at the halfway stage the Dover team were in 2nd place.

The second half of the gala was opened with a PB from Charlotte Hyde (18/u free 32.51 3rd ) which was quickly followed by yet more personal bests from Tom Russell (18/u free 31.58 2nd), Sacha Wild (11/u fly 48.12), Ellie Weymouth (9/u back 45.50 1st), Matt Austin (9/u back 47.84 1st), Hannah Delo(12/u breast 49.14), Callum Hayward (10/u free 42.35 2nd), Tasha Hyde (15/u fly 34.89 1st), Adam Delo (15/u fly 35.65 2nd) and Iain Hunter (18/u IM 1.16.67 3rd). The 9/u medley relay team added another good haul of points when they stormed home in first place.

Going into the last quarter of the gala the Dover team were still placed second but were pushing hard for first place. Gemma Prosser was the first of the Dover swimmers in the last quarter to record a personal best in the 18/u breaststroke in a time of 42.72. She was quickly followed by Stirling Mason ( 18/u breast 37.27 1st), Emily Naylor (11/u free 38.66 1st), Ellie Weymouth (9/u fly 46.65 1st), Tasha Hyde (12/u back 38.82 1st), Grace Beer(10/u breast 54.71), Callum Meadows (10/u breast 55.94 3rd), Fiona Robertson (15/u free 38.64) and Luke Menniss (15/u free 31.68 2nd).

In the final series of relays the Dover teams performance was faultless with 2nd place for the 18/u medley team and 1st places for the 12/u medley team, the 10/u medley team and the squadron freestyle relay team. When the final points were totalled up, there was a dead heat for first place with Folkestone and Dover sharing the spoils.

The Dover team had speeding tickets awarded to Shannon Smith (10/u back 43.95), Tom Latham (10/u back 43.00), Alice Latham (10/u IM 1.36.17), Ben Evans (10/u IM 1.35.85), Megan Curtis (11/u fly 39.82) and Charlotte Hyde (18/u IM 1.18.47).Other awards on the night went to-Matt Austin (best boy), Shannon Smith (best girl) and Ben Evans (best overall performance).

Assistant coach Tim Hyde was full of praise for the squad. “The team performance and attitude was superb tonight, each swimmer deserves a huge pat on the back for such a gutsy effort. The level of support the swimmers gave each other helped us achieve this result. An 80% personal best rate is staggering and a true indication that this team has a great future”

Dover Lifeguard club co-hosted with Canterbury, what has become south east Kent’s premier open gala at the weekend, as they welcomed swimmers from across the region to the annual icebreaker gala. This gala has been awarded level 2 designation from the Amateur swimming association and the top swimmers from Kent, SE London, Sussex, Surrey and Essex attending searching for national qualifying times.

Saturday’s competition started well for the host club in the girls 9 and over 200m breaststroke. There were personal bests against their entry times for Sophie Weymouth 3.17. 37, Megan Basford 3.10.51(2nd 11yrs) and Charlotte Hyde 2.55.61 (4th 15yrs). Dominika Szucsoua also swam well and finished 4th in the 13yr age group with Tessa Dunford 6th in the same age group.

The Boys 10 and over 100m breaststroke saw pb’s from Sacha Wild 1.43.94, Callum Basford 1.33.97(3rd  11yrs) and Dima Miller 1.08.64 (2nd open age group). The girls 100m butterfly had Dover’s Megan Basford putting in a great performance and personal best time of 1.22.89 earning herself a place in the final to finish 6th 11yr overall. Kaira Redman, aged 22 and a true inspiration to the younger team members with her positive attitude to training and competition swam a strong race to reach the final and finish 6th in the open age group. The boys 100m freestyle had good performances and personal bests from Callum Basford(1.13.15) and Matt Farran (1.05.46).

Megan Curtis was the first of the Dover girls in the water for the 200m freestyle and she improved on her entry time with a time of 2.51.61, this was quickly followed by Sophie Weymouth with a time of 2.28.51.

The boys 200m fly saw Daniel Seagrove –Castle storm through in a fast heat to record a 3 second personal best with a time of 2.43.85.

The afternoon session opened with the girls 200m IM and more big improvements on entry times from Katie Latham (3.14.17), Megan Basford(2.53.04), Sophie Weymouth(2.46.07) and Kaira Redman (2.37.84). Katie Latham then went on to record another pb in the 50m freestyle in a time of 37.21.

The ‘guards team were now recording personal bests almost every time they entered the water and this brought final places for Callum Basford 6th in the 11yr 100m fly (1.27.54), Mathew Basford 5th in the open 100m freestyle (56.83), Danile Seagrove-Castle 6th in the 13yr 100m fly(1.15.10) and Dima Miller 6th in the open 100 fly (1.03.17)

Sunday Morning’s session open with the girls 400m freestyle and there were pb’s from all of the Dover girls who had entered Megan Basford (6th 11yrs 5.24.12), Sophie Weymouth( 1st 11yr 5.05.03) and Dominka Szucsova (4.51.46). In the Boys 400m freestyle Daniel Seagrove-Castle finished 5th in the 13yr age group (4.46.74). The girls 10 and over 100m breaststroke had a great swim from Alice Latham to record a 3sec pb in a time of 1.43.00 this was supported by a blistering race from Charlotte Hyde who won her heat and earned a final place and recorded personal best time of 1.22.09. The next event was the boys 10 and over 100m backstroke. This saw Dover’s Oliver Latham turn in a fine display of determined and stylish swimming to record a personal best of over 3 seconds of 1.24.22. Callum Basford stormed through to reach the 11yrs final with a time of 1.20.90(3rd) with Sam Woodard recording a pb and being 1st reserve for the final with a time of 1.15.34. Mathew Farran chopped a massive 4 seconds off of his entry time and also made the final and finished 6th with a time of 1.12.90. Mathew Basford also reached the final in a time of 1.03.23.

Sophie Weymouth then took 1st place in the 11yrs 200m backstroke with team mate Megan Basford 3rd. In the boys 200m breaststroke Callum Basford recorded a personal best of 3.25.91 and Sacha Wild made the biggest improvement of the day when he destroyed his previous best time by a clear 8 seconds and earned himself automatic qualification to the south east region championships with a time of 3.34.24.

The last finals session of the weekend saw Sophie Weymouth recorded a massive pb of 4 seconds in the 100m freestyle with a time of 1.08.98 and finish 2nd 11yr old. Callum Basford was 4th in the 11yr 50m freestyle in a time of 33.07 and twin sister Megan Basford was 3rd in the 11yr 100m backstroke in a time of 1.18.87.

Daniel Seagrove-Castle swam a storming final to turn in a time of 28.97, yet another pb and Corriene Miller finished 3rd in the 15yrs 100m backstroke in a time of 1.13.69. There was a close race in the final of the men’s open 50m freestyle and a blanket finish saw Dover’s Matt Basford placed 4th (25.21) and Dima  Miller 6th (25.99).

For a club like Dover to host this level of gala it takes a lot of commitment and dedication from the team of volunteers. Swimmers who were not competing ,officials, stewards, announcers, judges and referees all helped make the gala a success. Thanks to the Friends of Dover Lifeguard club for supply a feast size buffet for lunch and dinner and special thanks to Scott Walker who acted as promoter of the event and ensured things ran smoothly.

Coach Lyndon Dunsbee was full of praise for the Dover team. “The backing that the parents have given us over the weekend has been magnificent, they have helped at all levels of organisation and running the gala. This has helped ensure the swimmers have had the chance to shine, and shine they have, showing great determination and resilience against strong competition. They have shown that 2007 is a year we will be able to relish at every level of competition.”