Hart Swimming Club took home 27 medals from the Basingstoke Open Meet last weekend.

It was a fantastic achievement for the squad of 32 swimmers from Hart SC as many swimmers recorded personal best times.

The club had previously taken a bumper squad to the Windsor Open Meet held at the new Maidenhead Leisure Centre, where they won 13 medals.

Head coach Darren Buchan said: “It’s been a fantastic spring for all our swimmers, and we couldn’t be prouder. Big thank you to all our coaches who have supported our swimmers across all our squads during a very busy swimming period.

“Thank you to Dan, James, Will & Alex plus Libby, and Maya for all the support they give us. Special thank you to Balaz who is leaving the coaching team shortly for a new adventure. You’ve been incredible as a coach and mentor for our younger swimmers.”

In April, Hart swimmer Katherine Cairney competed in the 50m backstroke at the British Championships in Sheffield, achieving a phenomenal time against the best swimmers in the country. Competition was fierce as she had to go up against the likes of backstroke specialist and 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Kathleen Dawson.

Hart SC also had representation at the Scottish Masters National Swimming Championships in Glasgow.

Clive Benson and Tony Clark were among the squad that won three silver medals, a bronze and nine personal best times in a in a very tough competition.

Hart swimmers Clive and Michelle also competed in Erith District Masters competition in Kent, taking home the equivalent of seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze, against difficult conditions.

Coach Buchan said: “Our level of competitiveness and success at the highest points in British Swimming continues to grow. We’re delighted to have had representation at the British Championships once again. We had a few more swimmers who very marginally missed on qualification times, but we are confident we will get them there next year.

Our masters’ swimmers continue to push what is possible in the upper age groups of our club. An outstanding achievement for them in Scotland”.

Winchester’s new multi-million-pound swimming pool played host to this year’s Southeast Regional Championships in May. Hart SC took a record number of qualifiers competing across a record number of races for the club.

Raul D with the standout performance for Hart taking a clean sweep of medals in all Backstroke events.

Buchan added: “The depth and quality of the club continues to grow. Evidenced in this year’s Hampshire County Champs success and followed up by Regional Champs.

“For the first time in years, we took a balanced squad across all age groups to the Championships with an amazing number of swimmers getting to Finals and unfortunately, narrowly missing out on medals.

“Our Region is one of the toughest to compete within, with some very large clubs hosted within the area. But we thrive on the competition, it pushes us to train harder and makes us all stronger.”

The main squad swimmers are now getting ready for the Hampshire Development Meet and Club Championships, while the Masters squad has a contingent of four swimmers travelling up to Aberdeen to compete in the Masters British Championships, followed by the Hampshire Masters Championships.

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