It has been a difficult time for Basingstoke Bluefins Swimming club, as like most other sports they have had to almost completely close down, with no swimming training or competitions for the next few months at least, writes TASHA ROUGIER.

There was at least some good news before the shut down.

The Bluefins Sharks had two very successful galas at Guildford and Hatfield.

They had six swimmers at the Special Olympics Regional Gala in Hatfield where they did brilliantly with two gold medals, four bronze, seven personal bests and one swimmer who was too good for gold and got a speeding ticket for being too fast.

There was more amazing swimming from the seven Sharks competing at Guildford where they won two gold medals, five silver, six bronze, 20 personal bests and had three speeding tickets.

They also won silver in the freestyle relay and bronze in the medley relay.

In the mainstream Bluefins squads they had exciting news that Archie Turner has been selected to join the Hampshire Talent Development Programme.

Bluefins are refusing to let the virus beat them.

They may be unable to get in the pool, but they have just launched an extensive new land training programme to keep the swimmers active and fit until the pools re-open.