Sarah Hardcastle came out of retirement to help the Borough of Southend swim squad smash a county record on their way to a gold medal at the Essex championships.

The club won an impressive haul of three gold, six silver and four bronze medals at the Fulwell cross pool in Barkingside.

But it was in the ladies 4x100 freestyle relay event where Southend, inspired by former Olympian Hardcastle, really made their mark.

The 32-year-old, who was persuaded to pull her goggles back on by coach Mike Higgs, guided the team through the qualification process to the final.

Brentwood swimming club were the favourites for the event, but they were forced to take a back-seat as Hardcastle rolled back the years, leading Southend to first place and a new county best time of 4mins 3secs.

The individual splits were Sarah Wood 1m 1.45s, Hardcastle 1m 00.78s, Phillipa Davies 1m 02.45s and Nathalie Brown 58.26s.

Wood picked up another gold medal for Southend in the 50m butterfly, recording a personal best time of 30.89s.

And she continued to power her way to more prizes, claiming silver awards in the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Finally, Sarah completed an impressive championships by taking a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke.

She then joined her team mates, Brown, Elizabeth McKinnon and Phillipa Davies in the ladies team to chase Brentwood home for a silver medal in the 4x100m medley.

Published Thursday, March 7, 2002