backstroke record with a fine performance in the Summer Age Group Championships at the BASA pool on Saturday night.

Hammond, who along with Troake, Stephen Fahy and Ronald Cowan, is due to represent Bermuda at the Games in Winnipeg, Canada, later this month romped home in two minutes, 11.32 seconds to take both the national record and the 15 and over age group record from Troake.

And Kiera Aitken was another record-breaker, knocking three tenths of a second off Jessica Sousa's record for the girls 15 and over 200 metre backstroke set only a year ago. Aitken swam home in 2.32:25 to capture the honour.

Hammond and Aitken are among an 11-strong Bermuda team travelling to the US today to take part in a meet in Buffalo.

Fellow Pan-Am Games competitors Troake and Cowen will also be there in what amounts to a final warm-up for the trio. Fahy, meanwhile, has elected to remain under the direction of his university coach for another week where he can work on his speciality, the 200 individual medley.

The remaining members of the team competing in Buffalo, where 800 swimmers from the north-east of the US and Ontario area of Canada will come together, are Trevor Ferguson, Graham Smith, and Andrew Shaw in the 15 and over age category; Scott Simmons, Roy-Allan Burch and Ashley Aitken in the 13-14s; and a lone 11-12 entrant, Anastasia Lou.