Three Swimmers reached new milestones at the Grove Pool in Belfast yesterday as the Irish national championships got under way with the long distance events. Although no Irish records were broken, Stephen Saunders, Emma Bersin and Mary Corless can all look back with satisfaction on their performances.
Saunders, who swims for Terenure College, produced a personal best time of 16:08.82 in winning the 1,500 freestyle.
But there were contrasting emotions for pre-race favourite James Hand. The Bangor teenager finished sixth after being severely hampered by an attack of cramp.
Arguably the best display of the day was produced by Emma Bersin from Templeogue, who shaved 15 seconds off her personal best time, clinching her victory in the 800 metres freestyle in 9:30.88.
Mary Corless from Tuam was a clear winner of the 400 metres individual medley, having seven seconds to spare over second-placed Sinead Cawley and setting a new personal best time of 5:03.96 in the process.
