At a prestigious Open Swimming Meet held last weekend, young Ellesmere College Titan swimmer Hector Pardoe, age 9, stunned the swimming world by breaking 4 Championship records and storming straight into no 1 position in the UK rankings.

The Open Meet which was held at Millfield School�s Olympic size 50m pool in Somerset,  on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th April was attended by some of the best swimmers from all over the UK.

Despite only just having turned 9 at the end of March and being by far the youngest swimmer in the 10/u age category in which he was competing, Hector won 5 gold medals in the 200m freestyle in 2:32.57; the 400m freestyle in 5:15.02; the 200m butterfly in 3:06.52; the 800m freestyle in 11:01.29; and the 50m butterfly in 0:37.48.

As a result he is now ranked 1st amongst all 9 year olds in the UK in the 200m, 400m & 800m freestyle and the 200m butterfly events. These official rankings are compiled by the ASA, the sport�s governing body, and consist of in excess of 600,000 recorded times over the last twelve months.

Titan�s assistant coach Darren Pugh commented �To put the magnitude of Hector�s achievements into some form of context - his times in most of these events would have won him the gold medals at this year�s Shropshire County Championships not only in the 9/u age category but also in the 10/u and 11/u age categories�.

�His time of 5:15.02 in the 400m freestyle is only a few seconds slower than the 5:04.20 time recorded by Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan) in 1924 when he won the Olympic gold medal�.

Commenting upon his success Hector said �I know I can swim even faster. To be honest I was upset that I didn�t beat that man Tarzan. Next time I will�.

Other Titans swimmers competing at the meet included Elliot Hughes age 13, Alfie Pardoe age 12, and Michael Doyle age 10.

21st April 2010  Back to News