THE SURREY Swimming Association's Men's Team Championship Cup was first awarded in 1932. Now the historic silver trophy bears the names of 21 famous county swimming clubs, including mighty Leatherhead who have held the trophy uninterrupted since 1993.
However, equipped with former GB National age group gold medallists and qualifiers, Haslemere Swimming Club had serious plans to change to this season's engraving work.
Selecting the club's four fastest freestylers, Owen Morgan (19), Phil Traviss (23), James Bird (21) and younger brother David Bird (19), chief coach Adam Baker arranged the squad so as to gain optimum split times in the 50m x 4 freestyle relay event.
Despite the unforgiving ASA one-start rule, undergraduate James Bird led the first leg, followed by long-time team-mate Traviss who covered the second 50m in a personal best time.
However, with the Guildford team still in contention, David Bird had to produce the swim of his life to provide world-class anchorman Morgan with a chance of hitting the finish pad first.
After a spectacular final takeover dive and a furious tumble turn, Morgan propelled Haslemere into the lead again and went on to record an amazing overall winning time of 1min 39.67 secs.
To the deafening salutations of the Haslemere supporters, the team were presented with one of the most coveted trophies in SurreyCounty swimming.
Once again, Haslemere's individual and team medal tally is mounting rapidly as they enter the final sessions of this year's county championships.