A founder member of Thanet Lifeguard Club is a world record holder after she won gold at the Lifesaving World Championships.

Jan Dell competed in the masters section in Riccione, Italy, and clinched gold in the 50m manikin carry to became not only world champion in her age group but also the world record holder for the event, winning by a massive nine seconds.

She also claimed silver in the 100m obstacle race and bronze in the 4x50m manikin carry with her team. Overall, 53 countries competed and more than 1,000 entrants took part.

Dell, a national judge, stayed on to assist with judging at the championships - although she couldn’t judge the masters event.

She said: “Over the years, many people have given up their time and at their own expense to come along and support competitions and judge, not only me, but others, and it’s my way of giving back to the younger people and the sport what I have received in the past.”

Dell formed Thanet Lifeguard Club with three other people in 1961, starting out as Ramsgate Lifeguard Club, however the club were unable to assist her with training as adults are not allowed to train with children.

Apart from training in her own 10-metre pool at home, this meant she had to travel to Folkestone and Crawley to train at her own expense.

She also had to become a member of the Surf Life Saving Club along with her existing membership to The Royal Life Saving Society, of which she is a life member.

“It’s a really enjoyable sport to be part of,” she said. “You meet people from all over the world and we jog along as one big happy family.”

Anyone interested in taking up the sport can email Dell at janetdell@aol.com for more information.