The youngsters of Dover’s development squad swam at the Black Lion Development Gala held at Gillingham on Saturday. The team depleted by injury including three broken arms were facing a tough challenge with many swimmers swimming strokes which they don’t normally compete in. The evening got off to a flying start with the mixed squadron breaststroke relay team touching home first centimetres ahead of their nearest rivals.

 In the 18/u backstroke Gemma Prosser(36.94)and Alistair Walker(33.51) both romped home in first place making it a hat trick to start the gala. This was quickly followed by Joe Bisset, first in the 11/u breaststroke in a time of 49.37, Sophie Weymouth in the 9/u freestyle had a fine swim to finish first in 36.49. When Sian Steer( 12/u butterfly) also finished first in 39.40 the Dover team were leading the gala by a comfortable margin. Ashley Higgins(10/u backstroke 49.06) and Laura Austin( 13/u breaststroke 43.02) both finished second to add to Dover’s fine points haul. The 9/u mixed freestyle relay team maintained their 100% record for the series with first place for Ben Andrew, Sam Gibbs, Megan Curtis and Sophie Weymouth.

 The second quarter of the gala started well with Nicola Brown in the 18/u butterfly finishing second in a time of 35.74. With second places for her sister Katie Brown (11/u backstroke 43.53), Oliver Latham (11/u backstroke 45.64), Stephanie Killin (10/u butterfly 46.86) and Adam Delo (13/u backstroke 39.74) the team were maintaining their lead but by a narrower margin.

 When the second half of the gala started one of the stars of the night Nicola Brown(18/u freestyle 32.18) produced an excellent swim to finish first. This was supported by Natasha Hyde in the 11/u butterfly finishing first in a time of 42.47 and Sam Ward first in the 12/u breaststroke(45.87). Daniel Potts(11/u butterfly 46.08) and Ben Andrew(9/u backstroke 49.07) both finished second in their respective races to support the teams challenge for silverware. In the next series of relays the 11/u mixed medley team of Joe Bisset, Dan Potts, Megan Basford and Natasha Hyde put in a determined performance to come out on top and finish first.

 Going into the final quarter of the gala the competition for first place was now very close, Dover’s Charlotte Hyde(18/u breaststroke 40.72) finished second to give the team valuable points at a critical time in the gala. Sophie Weymouth(9/u butterfly 46.76) finished an excellent swim in first place to take maximum points for the team. The final series of relays saw second places for the 12/u mixed medley relay team of Tessa Dunford, Kenna Bisset, Bradley Harvey, Callum Basford and the 18/u mixed medley team of Nicola Brown, Charlotte Hyde, Alistair Walker and Kye Westgarth. The final event of the night was the squadron freestyle relay and the Dover team put in a strong performance to finish second.

 The painful wait for the points totals came to an end with the news that the Dover team had finished third despite their depleted injury hit team. Speeding tickets were awarded to: Bradley Harvey (12/u butterfly 37.97), Amy Gibbs (12/u freestyle 34.48), Gemma Prosser (13/u butterfly 34.63), Holly McCurry(10/u breaststroke 48.48) and Sam Gibbs(10/u breaststroke 52.87). Well done to the whole team for a great swim.