Town midfielder Ian Westlake sensationally defeated Commonwealth 200-metre gold medallist Karen Pickering in a 50-metre challenge race at Crown Pools on Sunday afternoon. Westy, a former England Schools Waterpolo player and talented swimmer, led from the start and touched just ahead of the Portman Road season ticket holder.

Last season's Player of the Year finished the two lengths of the pool in 25.21 seconds with Pickering, who specialises at longer distances, 53 one-hundredths of a second behind.

Typically self-effacing, Westlake said afterwards that he was fortunate to finish in the lead: "I just got away really quickly and I got a bit lucky in the end. I thought I'd slow down but the adrenaline was pumping.

"The turn is where I normally go wrong, but I'm very happy. That's my best time by over a second, 26.5 seconds was my best, the adrenaline was just going!"

The Town number 33 is now after some humility from team-mates who were less than confident in his abilities: "A few apologies are deserved, I think! They said I had no chance!"

Pickering was pleased with her time but not the result: "That's not a bad time for me. I'm devastated to lose but it was a good race.

"After the first length I thought we'd be close or he'd be ahead. The further we'd go, the more chance I'd have and I was catching up in the end but it was just too short and I didn't have enough time. That's a really good time for Ian, he did a really good swim when it mattered."

The pair now face one another in a penalty shoot-out at Portman Road during half-time in Tuesday's home game with Sheffield United. The pair will take three penalties each against third-choice Town keeper Shane Supple. Pickering, a footballing novice who has been receiving coaching from former Blue Simon Milton, is targeting two goals.

However, the Olympian's main concern is that she is expecting to pay a price for her loss: "Most worrying is that I think I've got to do some forfeit, so I'm a bit nervous!"

This will be concocted by the Town dressing room and the swimmer fears the worst: "That's not good, is it?"

The challenge was set up to promote the club's latest 'An Evening With...' event being held in the Galleria on November 4th which stars Pickering with Simon Milton the compere.

Photo: Action Images

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