North District Sprint Championships - 2 October 2010

South Mainland ASC took 6 of their swimmers to the North District Sprint Championships held at Inverness.

In age 13/14 events, Donnie Price, 14, achieved PBs in each of his 50m races in the heats and qualified for finals in the breaststroke and butterfly where he improved times once more. With a 30.43 he finished 5th in the butterfly, having earlier in the day achieved a bronze medal with a time of 35.18 in the breaststroke. Donnie also swam the open 100m IM and had a tremendous 3 second PB for a 1.07.74.

Karl Eldridge, 14, accomplished four good PBs in his races, with his biggest improvement achieved in the butterfly with 34.09. His younger brother Darin, 13, gained a PB in the two races that he swam, with 31.49 for freestyle and 40.38 in the breaststroke.

South Mainland girls, Sarah Keay, 14, and Kirsty Laurenson, 14, both had good swims. Sarah was very pleased to gain a PB in her breaststroke with 39.94 finishing in 11th place and was satisfied to be on her entry times in her other events. Kirsty also managed a PB with a 31.52 for her freestyle and was within a second of entry times for her fly and backstroke.

In the youngest age group, 10-12 years, Eddie Price, 11, made PBs in every event, and with another year to go in the age groups was delighted to make three finals. He swam a 31.40 for his freestyle to finish 5th, 42.88 in breaststroke for 6th and 37.00 in butterfly for 7th.

The club again wishes to thank Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy & Northlink Ferries for their continued support.

Inverclyde Masters - September 2010

Last weekend, Jan Price, South Mainland ASC, competed at the Inverclyde Masters held at the Waterfront Leisure Centre, Greenock. As always the meet got underway on the Friday evening with the ‘Inverclyde 800’, a mere race of 32 lengths in the 25metre pool. A challenging race for many, it was even tougher this year due to the water temperature more akin to baby pool than competitive swimming. Heat exhaustion is not usually associated with swimming but on this occasion many complained of being uncomfortable after the first few hundred metres, some finding they were having breathing difficulties and a few competitors not finishing. Jan herself felt a bit queasy during the second half of the race but that may have been a residue of a bumpy ferry trip the previous night! Her resulting time however was only 6 seconds outside her entry time set last year, with the 6 seconds being lost in the final 200 metres and she came 2nd overall in the 50 -54 age group.

After a good night’s sleep it was back in the pool early next morning for the start of a further 12 events over the day. The 200m freestyle resulted in her 2nd fastest ever time and a first place in the age group. Other events in the morning finished close on entry times apart from the 200m IM which was a disappointing 6 seconds away from her target. After a refuelling lunch break, the afternoon started with the rather dreaded 100m butterfly, not at all popular with the over 50s, so although her time again was outside entry time, Jan got a first in her age group – due to being the only one brave or daft enough to tackle the event! The remaining races of the day went much as planned, entry times being matched for most swims with a pleasant surprise coming in her 11th race of the day, 100 metre backstroke by finishing 2 seconds inside entry time.

Bridge of Don September Splash & Cult Otters Bibby Offshore Challenge - 4/5 September 2010

A team of 14 young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club had a terrific weekend participating in two competitions in Aberdeen and amongst them won 2 dozen medals and achieved 3 dozen personal best times. On top of this, one of the youngest swimmers, Sophie Morris, 10, broke 3 Shetland Age Group records out of her six swims over the two days. At the September Splash at the Bridge of Don Pool she took 12 seconds off her 100m breaststroke time and won the silver medal, but it was in the Cults Otters competition at Northfield Pool that she pulled off her record breaking swims with a 1.34.30 in the 100m butterfly taking a silver and a 1.18.70 in the 100m freestyle for the bronze. Earlier she was given the challenge by South Mainland coach Jan Price to get a 3.15 for the 200m IM, and excelled herself by going 3.12.67 for another record and bronze medal. The talented youngster also won the silver for the 400m freestyle and only just missed a medal in the 100m backstroke. Her successful day resulted in being runner up for her age group.

Also swimming in the 8-10 age group was Erraid Davies, 9, South Mainland’s youngest competitor who swam the same races as Sophie. She finished only a fraction of a second behind her in the breaststroke at the Splash to take the bronze and continued this trend the following day with bronzes in the butterfly and the 400m freestyle. She had a further pb in the 100m freestyle and her biggest improvement was an 8 second pb for a 3.18.76 in the 200m IM.

In the boys 400m freestyle, Donnie Price, 14, led from the start and extended his lead throughout the race to take the gold in the 13/14 age group in a pb time of 4.25.77, while younger brother Eddie 11, pushed all the way in his heat by a older boy, took the silver in the 11/12 age group with his pb of 5.04.36. Silver seemed to be the favoured colour for the brothers with Eddie achieving second places in a further 4 events, all in pb times, and Donnie for his 200m IM, 100 free and a tremendous 1.16.38 in the100 breaststroke. Each came runner up in their age group overall.

Kirsty Laurenson, 14, had a very busy two days racing eight events in the 13/14 age group, with 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle being swum on both days. Her fly at Splash earned her a bronze medal while a 3 second pb for a 1.20.54 in the 100m IM gained her silver. She also improved her 100m breaststroke by a superb 3 seconds and the following day, her backstroke by 2 seconds.

In the same age group, Sarah Keay had some great swims at the Splash, starting to regain her form after a long spell out of training due to illness. Her efforts won her gold in the 100m breaststroke with her best time this year, a 1.30.26 and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Morven Davies, 13, also gained a pb in the 100m breaststroke with a 1.44.80 and broke the 1.20 for the first time in her 100m freestyle with a 1.19.43.

The club had several girls in the 11/12 age group. Vhairi Davies, 12, swam 2 pbs at the Splash in her breaststroke and freestyle and was the only girl in the age group who had a race at the Cults meet. In her one race there, the 100m backstroke, she improved by 2 seconds for a 1.28.69 which should qualify her for the North District Age Group Meet in December. Also gaining district times were Cara Steven, 11, and Curstaidh Mackay, 11. Cara’s best swim was a 1.41.04 for the 100m breaststroke which resulted in the bronze medal. She improved in her 100m freestyle by 2 seconds and had a brilliant 5 second pb with a time of 1.36.82 in the 100m backstroke. Curstaidh swam equal or just a fraction of a second faster than her pbs in her 100 IM, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly, but it was in the 100m freestyle that she pulled out all the stops with a huge 4 second pb for a 1.16.20 resulting in a very well deserved gold.

12 year old Lucy Morris had 2 races at the Splash finishing marginally outside pbs in her freestyle and butterfly. Her twin brother James competed at both competitions. In the first day he successfully took the bronze in the 100m butterfly. At the Cults meet he then had 5 races during the day. He swam close to entry times but managed to achieve a 1 second pb in the 100m freestyle with a 1.14.07. Also gaining pbs for his 100m freestyle was Scott Riise, 12, and he did it twice over the weekend. A 1.17.08 at the Splash was a 1 second improvement on his pb and gained him silver medal. He then smashed this time the following day reducing it to 1.15.42. Scott also made a good pb in his 100m breaststroke at the Splash and also swam the 100m backstroke on the Sunday at the Cults meet. Big brother Jason, 14 competed in all 5 races at the Splash meet. His best race was his 100m backstroke where he dropped his time to 1.31.19 while his other times were close to entry times.

At the end of the weekend the tally was 3 golds, 12 silver and 9 bronze. Due to allocating of points to the top 10 swimmers in each event at the Cults meet, South Mainland ASC, one of the smallest clubs in the district, were proud to finish in 5th club place overall.

South Mainland would like to thank the following for their support; Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy and Northlink.

Scottish National Open Championships - June 2010

South Mainland’s Donnie Price, 13, competing in the championships for the first time, swam 9 events spread over four days at the Championships in the Boys 16 and under age group and successfully managed to produce PBs in all but two races. As well as improving times in nearly all his swims he moved up the rankings from his seeded position in the heats. A two second improvement in his 200m freestyle, and a time of 2.09.29, placed him in the top third of the field of 125 competitors. In another event with over 100 competitors, the 200m IM, he again took off over 2 seconds and leapt up 30 places to finish in the top half. His highest finishing position in the age group events was 31st out of 74 swimmers in the 200m Breaststroke with a very good 4 second PB of 2.50.83.

Donnie also qualified for one open event as the youngest competitor in the 1500m freestyle. Using experience gained in previous races in recent months, he swam the second half of the race faster than the first half finishing it off with a very strong final hundred resulting in an excellent 8 seconds PB with a time of 17.47.23.

North District Open Championships, Westhill - 5/6 June 2010

Donnie Price, 13, South Mainland ASC, swam 11 events over the weekend. As a first-timer and amongst the youngest of male swimmers to qualify for the competition, he started off with a 2 second PB in the 200m IM. This was followed by another PB in the 400free where he came 17th out of 37 competitors. A further 2 PBs were gained in the afternoon by taking an excellent 8 seconds of his 200m butterfly and 6 seconds in the 200m breaststroke, where he came a remarkable 12th overall. The first day finished with breaking 1minute for the 100m freestyle for the first time with a 59.63.

Sunday started with a good swim in the 100m butterfly, scraping a fraction of a second off his PB. Mid morning was the 1500m freestyle, where once again Donnie paced it very well to finish with a new PB and overall 5th place. Only 20 minutes later and without a chance to fully recover, he was one of only three of the 1500m swimmers who opted to race the 200m backstroke, and like the other two he finished just outside entry time. In the afternoon session, Donnie produced another hat-trick of PBs with improvements in his 200m freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 400m IM.