County Championships

Day 2: Distance day

Eight golds were up for grabs in the long-distance freestyle programme as the 2006 Berks and South Bucks championships continued at Maidenhead's Magnet pool on Saturday – for the senior and junior championships in both male and female 800m and 1500m swims.

Head coach Graeme Thomas's charges at the Evening Post-sponsored Reading Swimming Club squad brought home six as Garry Dixon, Louisa Downs and Alex Macarthur took two each.

Dixon, 16, blew away the field in the 1500 and beat a county junior record held by one of Reading's top swimmers of recent years, Craig Woodward.

Wycombe's older David Ryan set the initial pace in a fascinating last heat, while across the pool Dixon, Tom Norgate (Windsor) and Chris Rowley (Bracknell) bided their time.

The trio moved up together before Dixon, swimming a fine tactical race, stepped up the pace at the mid-point and finished in 16.11.27 – almost seven seconds inside Woodward's 1991 record and over 13 up on second-placed Rowley – to take both the overall and junior trophies.

Adam Barrett dominated his 1500 in 17.33.03 – over 50 seconds inside his entry time as fastest 13-year-old, and making light of the Southeast regional championships qualifying time, which he beat by well over a minute.

Markus Orgill's 19.39 beat his time at Reading's autumn championship by eight seconds and James Tichband beat his by 17.

The heats were mixed, and Downs won both senior and junior 1500 golds in the same heat as Dixon, with a gutsy swim in a difficult outside lane. As to be expected, she was dropped early on by the more powerful young men, but still swam a dogged 17.45.33, agonizingly close to adding another event to her menu for the summer's national championships.

With a field of just three for the ladies' 1500, Louise Gillatt (15) and Frankie Wilkins (12) knew they were also guaranteed both senior and junior medals, but had the added incentive of making the tough Southeast qualifying standard.

Needing to beat 19.37 and 20.18 respectively, they shattered their targets in 18.38.9 and 18.59.83.

For Wilkins, the effort was all the more remarkable as less than an hour earlier she swam over nine seconds inside the Southeast qualifying mark for the 800, stopping the clock in 9.50.09. Much the fastest in her year, she swam a stroke-for- stroke heat across the 32 lengths with Chesham's Jasmin Ballingall and Windsor's Samantha Cross, both 13, before Ballingall edged away in the closing 50 to take the heat by a second.

Boys and men were swimming the first-ever 800 championship at county level. Alex Macarthur did Reading proud with a superb 8.57.25, his first national qualifying time of the season, and was another double gold winner.

Callum Willcox, 12, joined Macarthur on the rostrum for the junior 800 presentation with a brilliant bronze almost a minute inside his previous best, and collected his medal dripping wet after completing the 1500 as well – where he capped a great night by finishing over a minute inside his target regional time.

Among the other top girls' 800s of the night, Kristina Paige (with another regional time) and Vanessa Wood beat their previous bests by a quarter-minute, Naomi Herring by six seconds, older sister Louisa by four and Katie Hawkins by three.

Rachael Mills did even better, slashing a 10.33 entry time to 10.01.04 as she dominated her heat from start to finish. This missed a Southeast qualifying time by just a second, but she looks certain to secure it next time out.

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Saturday's swims counted towards the "BAGCATS" points competition for boys 14 and under and girls 13 and under. With four of the 10 championships sessions completed, Wilkins and Barrett both head their years, Chris Boyce is second and Willcox, Hawkins and Orgill all rank fourth.

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