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.
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