Two Bermudian master swimmers have between them grabbed an amazing 14 medals - 11 gold and three silver - at separate provincial championships in Canada over the weekend.

Colleen Nelson competing in the 50-54 age group at her first provincial meet, the British Columbia Masters in Langley, south east of Vancouver, swept to victory in the 50 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres breaststroke, her speciality events.

She also picked up a gold in the 100m freestyle and two silvers in the 50m and 100m butterfly.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the country, in Montreal, Nelson's cousin, Chris Smith was competing in the Quebec Masters Championship at Dollard.

Just back from the World Masters in New Zealand, Smith, competing in the 70-74 age group, struck gold in the 50m, 100m and 1500m freestyle events as well as the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 50m breaststroke.

He won silver 100m individual medley relay and also picked up two golds in two other men's relays.

Smith, who lives in Warwick, clocked 1:16.22 in the 100m free, which was a new Ontario record. His 1500m time of 24:32.13 was 44 seconds faster than his previous personal best and only 11 seconds slower than the Canadian record.

Of her performance, Nelson, who lives in Paget, said: "I'm absolutely exhausted, but very pleased with the results.

"In Bermuda we get so little chance to compete, this was only my second `official' meet. My first was the 1999 Latycar meet in Fort Lauderdale.

"The main reason I was tired was that I was so nervous. I couldn't sleep during the meet. It was very interesting as the meet was seeded by time only. You had men and women of different ages swimming together according to their entry times. The results were listed by age group and gender.

"But it was great fun and I am now looking forward to the Canadian National Championships in Saskatoon next month."

Smith has now competed in four major competitions since mid March. These include the Australian Nationals at Sydney, the World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, the Ontario Championships in Toronto and now the Quebec Championships at Montreal.

He has set 11 new Ontario records, 10 Canadian records and one world record in the process.

All of Nelson and Smith's times are also believed to be Bermuda age-group records.

Smith said yesterday: "I need a rest! I won't be competing in any more major meets until the US Masters Long Course (50m) Championships in Cleveland (Ohio) in mid August."

Smith will be training in Bermuda as well as Barbados and Toronto where he can use 50 metre pools.