Local swimmers were in record-breaking mode when the Guyana Amateur Swimm-ing Association National Championships culminated Sunday last at Castellani Pool.
In one of the first records for the day Athena Gaskin took 00:46 seconds off her previous record of 4:08:67 to set a new national record of 3:22:01 in the girls’ 11-12 200-metre breaststroke event.
Gaskin, however, did not have it easy as Britany Van Lange also clipped 00:32 seconds off the old mark but this was not enough as she had to settle for second place 00:14 seconds behind.
In the next record-breaking feat Steffi DeNobrega had the pool for herself in the girls 13-14 200M breaststroke as the Orca Swimming Club competitor took almost 00:09 seconds off the previous record set by Denica Summerson in 2006 as she powered home to victory in 3:234:38, erasing the old mark of 3:43:33.
In the first boys record for the day Ronald Rodrigues competing in the boys 11-12 50M butterfly took 66th hundredth of a second off the Henk Lowe 2005 record of 32:27 to register a new mark of 31:61 as the Silver Shark Aquatic Swim Club members and supporters were all up in cheers.
Guyana’s latest boy wonder Niall Roberts competing in the boys 15-17 50M butterfly fell short of Erlando McRae’s one-year record by 25 hundreth of a second as he finished breathlessly close with a time of 26:57 compared to the old record of 26:32.
And the girls would not be outdone by the boys as Soroya Simmons smashed her five-month old record in the girls 11-12 100m backstroke, swimming a remarkable race to clock 1:23:13 compared to her months old record of 1:24:82 she had set back in August.
N. Roberts though after dropping short of a record by a mere hundredth of a second did not allow this to deter him as the Dorado Speed Swim Club swimmer shaved almost 10 seconds off his old mark in the boys 15-17 200m butterfly. Roberts unchallenged raced to a time of 2:25:98 outclassing his own 2:34:48 set almost one year ago.
Meanwhile in the girls 8 and under 50m freestyle the petite Accalia Khan from Orca Speed Swim Club erased her own four-month- old record when she did 38:99, shaving one-tenth of a second off her previous record of 39:09. Khan in this race was closely followed by Telena Smith who had to settle for second, two-tenths of a second behind the record breaking Khan.
In another race where the victor behaved as though he had lost was the boys 11-12 50M freestyle where Ronaldo Rodrigues chased by Serrano Gonsalves clocked 29:61 to drop short of one of the longer standing records set by Justin Jairam in 2001.
Rodrigues’ time failed to break the old mark by six hundredth of a second.
In the final record-breaking event of the meet N. Roberts again stamped his authority when he took McRae’s three-year-old record. Roberts chased by Sebastian DeFreitas, Alan Lowe and Stephen Soares glided his way to 24:39 in the boys 15-17 50m freestyle as McRae’s 24:60 was surpassed.
