BEN LOWNDES and Gail Strobridge have added another remarkable chapter to their already illustrious swimming careers. The two Island Games stars have achieved the notable feat of claiming island titles in every event they entered at the gala sponsored by Guernsey Electricity.

For Lowndes that meant 10 trophies from 10 events and two new records.

The 17-year-old Guernsey Swimming Club member clocked 1min. 09.87sec. to beat John Tomlin’s previous best in the 100m breaststroke before surpassing Sean Rowe-Hagan’s old record in the 100m freestyle with a time of 53.19sec. in the final event of the meeting.

In total, Lowndes collected nine southern counties qualifying times and five national qualifying times.

‘He would be awesome if he had the time to commit himself to full-time swimming,’ said GSC coach Jo Winberg. ‘But he is at that age now where he has to work and he still does very well. I could not have asked any more of him.’

Meanwhile, Strobridge claimed an astonishing 15 titles – the only other girls’ title being won by Jo Laine in the 100m individual medley for 14-year-olds and under.

The Beau Sejour Barracuda also set four new records – in the 400m IM, the 50m and 200m butterfly and the 100m freestyle – the latter capping another successful weekend in her final event when other swimmers were showing signs of fatigue.

For this outstanding performance, Strobridge was presented with the best-girl award.

The equivalent male award was won by another Barracuda, Jeremy Osborne. From 12 individual swims, the 13-year-old set 11 new records and clocked five national age-group times in the 13-14 year group.

To add to his haul of 12 gold medals from his age group, he claimed the island junior championship title in the 100m IM with a time of 1-05.87.

Thomas Hollingsworth was another trophy winner at the gala, claiming four championship titles at just 16 years of age.

He emphasised his potential by winning the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events with his time of 28.03sec. in the shortest distance being inside the previous record held by Ian Powell.

The Barracuda also won the 200m breaststroke as well as nine gold medals in his age group, two silvers in the open section and five of his swims were in National Youth Qualifying times.

The other island title went to Matthew Robert in the 50m breaststroke where he registered a time of 32.19 while junior island champions in the 200m butterfly were Robyn Le Friec, who was a record breaker in the 100m fly, and GSC’s Tom Hamon, who achieved several Southern County qualifying times.

There were also excellent performances in the age-group categories.

For the GSC, Sophie Castle, 15, earned six titles and six Southern County times in backstroke and freestyle; Laine added firsts in three events to her 100m IM success while Alison Cann, 14, and Christine Hume, 15, grabbed all three breaststroke titles in their age categories. The latter also added the 200m IM and a silver in the 400m IM to her tally, all in Southern County times. Craig Angell was another of the club’s Southern County qualifiers and a gold medallist.

In the younger age groups, impressive performances came from 12-year-old Barracudas Matthew Allen and Kelsey Russell.

The former gained 12 golds in his age group and the latter nine with both improving on their times achieved only recently at the Hampshire County Championships.

Hannah Lamb, 13, set new championship records in the 50m butterfly and freestyle, the latter time of 28.71sec. being the second fastest overall of the meet.

Meanwhile, 10-year-old newcomers Tiffany Gervaise-Brazier and David Hall shone, both collecting seven gold medals.

The Parkland Investment Trophy for the boy and girl not to have placed first in an event went to Matthew Girard of the GSC for his six silver and five bronze and Casey Lee of the Barracudas for her haul of 10 silvers.

‘Standards are continually improving from junior to senior level and the island is fortunate to have a large number of youngsters who are highly motivated and dedicated to the sport,’ said Alison Frankland, the Beau Sejour Barracudas coach.

‘With one member, Ian Powell, currently established on the British World Class Performance Programme, the Barracudas are working hard towards further improving training standards in an effort to give local youngsters showing potential an opportunity to join this elite band of swimmers.’

Her counterpart Winberg was delighted with her club’s performances, especially in the younger age groups.

‘I was over the moon, the PBs just kept rolling in,’ she said.

‘The youngsters are really starting to find their feet now and are coming through very well.

‘For example, Sophie Lythgoe was excellent in her first major gala and Martin Chapman, who is now 13, had 11 swims and recorded 11 PBs and that is phenomenal.’