POOLE’S pony-tailed coach Robin Armayan will soon be making a date with a barber after Harry Thorpe added his name to the club’s growing list of national qualifiers.

Several months ago, the long-haired Frenchman promised his swimmers he would shave his head if 12 of them managed to record individual times for the national age and youth championships in July.

And when 16-year-old Thorpe clocked a gold-winning short course time of 58.27sec in the men’s 100m butterfly at the Exeter Open Meet, he became the 12th qualifier.

The time represented a 0.1sec improvement on his previous best.

Armayan said: “Harry did really well but it will mean a trip to the barber for me.

“I originally said I’d shave it off but I am in negotiation with the kids as to whether it all comes off.

“Some of them have some other ideas – such as a Mohican,” he added.

“I have shaved it off before, when I was 16 or 17. And I had it really short in Australia before I came here.”