SIXTEEN southern clubs descended on the Quays for the Millennium Inter-League Gala challenge between the Hants & South Coast League and Southern Junior League.

Hants & South Coast won by 2351 points to 1863 - with Winchester City Penguins picking up an excellent second overall in the club rankings behind Guildford.

Sam Chaffers starred in the 10 years breaststroke (he's currently ranked number one in Britain). His 42.69 won gold by 2.4 seconds.

Helen Close collected two silver medals - in the under-13 freestyle (31.11), then in backstroke (35.29 - all races were over 50m). Alex Reeves just snatched silver in the under-13 backstroke - his 35.01 5/100ths ahead of third place.

Reeves added third in the butterfly (35.35), with three other Penguins also taking bronze medals: Conrad Langridge in the 10 years backstroke (40.94), Lewis Dunford in the under-12 butterfly (37.21) and Laura French in the under-12 50m breaststroke (40.10), in which Yeovil's Holly Ritchie, clocked an outstanding 37.69.

Emma Macey was City of Southampton's star performer, winning double gold in the under-12 backstroke (35.68) and butterfly (33.78). Emma Wicks added gold in the under-13 butterfly (32.60), a full second clear of the field, and Luke Horswell rounded out City's medal tally with silver in the under-13 freestyle (30.31). Overall, though, Southampton placed 13th in the club list.

Ferndown Otters' Emily Freeman picked up two 10 years golds in the freestyle and butterfly, plus a bronze in the backstroke. Teammate David West took golds in the 12 years freestyle and butterfly. Alex Hinston won Seagulls' only medal, a bronze in the 10 years breaststroke.

Result: Guildford 428, Winchester 369, Ferndown 343, Woking 294, Tornadoes 289, Rushmoor 278, Bournemouth 271, Yeovil 269, Cranleigh 269, Haslemere 253, Poole 250, Newbury 241, Southampton 210, Seagulls 171, West Dorset 157, Street 122.

Normal service in the Hants & South Coast League resumes this evening with the Junior Cup. City of Southampton host Isle of Wight, Winchester Penguins B and Hamble Aquatics at the Quays.

Fareham Nomads have both a home gala and a trip to Woking with New Milton Torpedoes. Romsey & Totton go to Fareham - one of their opponents in the first Speedo League round on October 14 - as do defending Junior Cup champions Penguins A. Gosport Dolphins travel to Haslemere.

The Quays wasn't Winchester Penguins' only success of the weekend - fielding over 90 swimmers in all, they also placed first and second at two other galas. Wins in 30 of the 50 events won them the Ryvita Shield at Poole where Kerrie Taylor, Rebecca Pritchard and Amy Marklew all broke 30sec for 50m freestyle for the first time, while the 11 years relay squad won both freestyle and medley.

Isle of Wight won their Ryde gala, but second-placed Penguins could celebrate significant wins from Yasmin Grace (10 years 25m backstroke) and Natalie Jackson (12 years 25m butterfly), as well as a closing victory in the squadron.

Poole Result: Winchester City Penguins 264, Poole 234, West Dorset 227

Ryde Result: Isle of Wight A 157, Winchester City Penguins 143, Chichester Cormorants 119, Isle of Wight B 85.

Solent and Hampshire open-water champion and GB international David Fytche (Portsmouth Northsea) will join the international stars in Albert Dock, London, today for the final ten-kilometre round of the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup. So will Northsea's Greg Orphanides, a former 1500m international in the pool but a comparative novice in open-water who has not raced 10k before. Simon Lee, on the other hand, will find it comparatively short, the Solent SC swimmer was second at the 15k Windermere Classic four weeks ago.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.