Forres Bluefins two Day Meet - March 2009

Nine swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club competed in the recent Forres Bluefins 2 day Meet and each achieved at least one personal best time in their races, with some returning home with medals.

Eddie Price, 10, had a very successful weekend, winning gold in the boys 8-10 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley where his time of 1.31.43 was a 3.5 second improvement on his PB. A great race in the 50m butterfly earned him a silver.

Also competing in this age group was Scott Riise, 10, whose best times were a PB in 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, where he was 5th in both events. Older brother, Jason Riise swam 100m events in the 12 year age group and had his best result when he improved his 100m IM time by 3 seconds. His highest place was finishing 6th in 100m breaststroke.

Eleven year old James Morris swam consistently well to achieve 4 PBs. In the 100m freestyle he lowered his PB by one second to 1.17.74 and just missed out on a medal by a tiny 7/100 of a second. He was also placed 4th in 100m breaststroke, 5th in 100m backstroke and 6th in 100m IM, so was thrilled when he made 3rd place and a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly.

The four boys took part in two relay races, and came 5th in Saturday’s medley relay.

Late on Sunday afternoon, club swimmers, coaches, parents and friends were provided with one of the most exciting races of the weekend by the boys in the 4x50m freestyle relay. James led off well, followed by Jason, then Scott. At the final takeover, Eddie was about 5 metres ahead of a 12year old Forres boy. At the turn Eddie could see the older boy was gaining on him, but put in a determined effort and managed to hold on to the lead touching just 1/2 second in front. This fantastic swim was enough to result in the boys winning the bronze medal, only beaten by a team of 12 year olds boys from Thurso and a first class gold medal team from Delting.

Eldest of the South Mainland girls was 12 year old Morven Davies, in her first event south for nearly two years. She had 4 PBs and displayed improvement in all her strokes. Her biggest PB was in the 100m IM where she knocked off a substantial 5 seconds. In her last individual event she was set the target of breaking the 1.30 mark and was delighted to touch in 1.28.06.

Lucy Morris, 11, made 3 PBs over the two days. Her best event was in the 100m backstroke where she improved her PB by over 3 seconds with a time of 1.38.97 and finished in 9th place. Her other PBs were for

100m butterfly and the 100m IM.

Vhairi Davies, 10, managed to gain 4 good PBs. Improving on her entry time by just over 1 second in the 50m backstroke she narrowly missed a medal, finishing in 4th place and was 7th in 50m butterfly, 9th in breaststroke and free style. Her 100m IM time of 1.40.53 was a super 6 second PB and gained her 6th place.

Curstaidh Mackay, 10, had a perfect 5 out of 5 PBs, showing excellent, steady improvement in all events where her best placings were 7th for both the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Curstaidh also managed to drop her 50m free times when it came to joining Lucy, Vhairi and Morven in the relays, where she brilliantly swam the final leg in both the medley relay and the freestyle relay.

While in the boys relays, only 2 heats were swum, there were 3 heats for the girls and with some teams made up of four 12 year old girls, the younger girls from South Mainland were up against some very experienced and faster opposition. Although not managing to win a medal like the boys, they nevertheless gained valuable experience in the thrill and excitement of relay races.

Morven and Vhairi’s younger sister Erraid at just 8 was one of the youngest competitors at Forres and swam all 5 races in the 8-10 girls age group. The talented youngster gained superb PBs and was placed 8th in 50m backstroke and 9th in 100IM. Whizzing through the water in her last race, the 50m butterfly, she astounded all with an incredible time of 43.46, which gained her a excellent 5th position.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank Northlink and Freefield Pharmacy for their continued support and sponsorship.