Two young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club recently attended the Edinburgh International Age Groups Championships, a 3 day competition held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
For Sarah Keay, age 12, this was her first time of competing in a 50metre pool, long course competition and for team mate Donnie Price, 12, his first opportunity to swim more than a 1 length race long course.
With a view to progressing to competing in Scottish National events, the swimmers gained valuable experience in learning to adapt to the different pool length and coped well with the challenges of races without the additional push offs with more frequent turns in standard 25m pools.
Meeting up with top ranked swimmers from throughout Scotland, Sarah swam 8 events and Donnie swam all 9 events for 11/12 year boys. This included the tremendously demanding 200m butterfly, a race that only attracted up to 12 swimmers – a lot less than the 48 qualifiers for other events in their age group.
Since neither Donnie or Sarah had previously swam their races in a 50 metre pool, all times were recorded as new long course Personal Bests. Their times, converted to short course were all close to PBs or improvements.
On the first day of competition, Donnie found himself in the fastest heats for the 200m freestyle and the 100m breaststroke. He came 4th in the 200m freestyle with a PB and a new Shetland Age Group record and qualified in 6th place for the final of the 100m breaststroke. Returning for the evening’s finals, he improved both his time and his place, and in a closely fought race finished in 4th position.
On day two, the 200m butterfly was a low point for Donnie, but excellent swims in the heats of the 100m backstroke and the 100m freestyle resulted in two more evening finals.
In the backstroke he maintained his position, finishing in 6th. In the 100m freestyle, like the previous day, he swam his final faster than the heats and held on to his position of third place, his time of 1.04.46 his second Shetland Age Group record of the meet.
On the last day of competition, Donnie had a very good 200m breaststroke with a time when converted to short course provided him with his third Shetland Age Group record. In the 200m backstroke race he finished 6th and with a new personal best in the 100m butterfly came 10th
Sarah had a mixed 3 days. On the Friday, her 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke were just outside her entry times, but like most young swimmers, she was disappointed not to swim any times that when converted would have been personal bests. However, after a good night’s sleep, she bounced back on day two, when in her 100m backstroke improved greatly on her position from ranked 30th to finishing a creditable 17th overall. In her 100 freestyle, she was delighted to then swim a personal best of 1.11.26.
On the third day, the 200 breaststroke gave Sarah her next chance show what she’s capable of, and once again swam a PB. Her final 2 races were both swum well, although just slightly down on times.
The South Mainland swimmers and coaches would like to thank Mainlands and Northlink for their ongoing sponsorship and support.
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