This was the meet that so many had looked forward to – having already been a victim of atrocious weather in December, when it was cancelled at the last moment, 11 South Mainland swimmers were due to head to the rescheduled meet at the beginning of February.
Unfortunately, once more, weather played havoc with our intentions of taking the biggest number of swimmers ever to the District meet – for many this was going to be a first time at the event. Ghastly gale force winds prevented the boat from sailing on the Thursday night so in the end only three swimmers decided to opt to fly to Inverness.
The first challenge of the weekend was enduring ‘the worst flight ever’ from Sumburgh to Inverness via Kirkwall – except that the Kirkwall brief stop didn’t happen, and although, to begin with, the plane thought that was where it was going, changed it’s mind within what felt like 10 feet of the ground and whooshed heavenward at the last moment.
Announcements of trying again or having to divert were made, but not back to Sumburgh as it was closed due to the storm and not directly to Inverness as it too was closed, due to flooding. So on we continued, suffering the extremely bumpy trip and landing in Aberdeen an hour and fifty minutes after taking from Sumburgh. Once safe on the ground, while most would happily have got off and caught a bus, train or hitchhiked, we were kept in our seats and once again launched into gale force winds and chucked about up to Inverness.
Despite the dodgiest of starts to the weekend all three swimmers swam extremely well, totalling 28 personal best times and a dozen medals between them.
Competing at the event for his fifth and last time, 14 year old Donnie Price had a fantastic two days, swimming every event in the 13/14 boys age group. Over twelve events he achieved 10 personal best times and 7 medals making him the most successful swimmer from Shetland at the meet. His first medal came in the 100m breaststroke where he gained the bronze with a PB time of 1.14.70 and this was followed later in the day with a tremendous 4 second PB in the 400 IM where with a time of 5.01.70 he won his first gold of the weekend. The 200m breaststroke then produced another brilliant PB and this time he came second. Heading back to the pool on the Sunday provided Donnie with the opportunity to pull off some more great swims, a chance he was not to miss. In the 100m freestyle he gained a good PB, but with a strong field, a 58.29 was only good enough for a sixth place. However, in his second race in the morning, Donnie demonstrated his ever improving race skills in competing in the 1500m freestyle. Unworried by other competitors heading off very fast at the beginning and being ahead in the early stages, he kept it very steady for the first 500m before picking up his pace and pushing well in front of others. Maintaining his lead he finished in 17.13.32, achieving not just gold but also a time required this year for Scottish Youth Development Squad. Sunday afternoon brought a PB in the 200m IM heat and a place in the evening’s final. The 400m freestyle was swam in similar fashion to the 1500m, letting others burn out during the first 100m while holding back a little before increasing the pace and taking over the lead at the half way mark. Another good 4 second PB was produced for another gold medal. In the last session of the meet, Donnie still continued to produce quality swims. In the 200m backstroke he smashed his entry time by 8 seconds with a 2.22.96, achieving a 3rd place and a new Shetland Age Group record. Ten minutes later came the final of the 200m IM and finishing off his meet in style, Donnie lowered his PB from the afternoon and successfully gained a bronze.
Donnie’s younger brother, Eddie, 12, also swam every race of the meet in the 10-12 years age group and successfully clocked up 12 PBs and 5 medals. The 400m freestyle was his first event, where he broke his target of 5 minutes for the first time with a 4.58.32 to take bronze. After another two PBs during the first session in the 100m butterfly and the 200m backstroke, the afternoon got underway with the tough 400m IM and another good PB of 5.55.30, just missing out on the medals with 4th place. A tiny PB was then achieved in his 100m freestyle with a 1.07.14, enough to get the silver. Saturday evening started with the 200m butterfly where he swam a very well paced race, and with two lengths to go held on to his lead to win the gold in 2.58.27, lowering his Shetland Age Group record by three seconds. The following day he started by taking six seconds off his 200m breaststroke time and achieved a time for Scottish National Age Groups in April. The 1500m freestyle followed, where Eddie executed his race plan extremely well in maintaining a steady pace and finishing with an extra push in the closing stages. His resulting time of 19.27.83 earned a well deserved silver. His next race was the heat of 200m IM and producing another PB secured a place in the final. The 100m backstroke was another fabulous race, and a good 2 second PB.
The closing session of the competition brought one of the races that Eddie had been most looking forward to, the 200m freestyle where he excelled himself by whacking a huge 7 seconds off his entry time with a 2.20.47 to finish in 3rd place once again. Shortly after, he completed his events with the final of the 200 IM finishing in 5th place.
Vhairi Davies, 12, competing in this level of competition for the first time, had a tremendous weekend making excellent PBs in all of her 5 races. Her meet started off by taking 2 seconds off her 100m butterfly followed by 9 seconds from her 200m backstroke. After a break in the afternoon, she faced one of the toughest events in swimming, the 200m butterfly and succeeded in improving her entry time by an incredible 17 seconds to finish in 3.17.30 and a very respectable 12
th place. Equally challenging was the 400m IM that greeted her on Sunday morning and once again Vhairi demolished her entry time by taking 21 seconds off her PB to get a 6.36.24. Her last race brought her yet one more good PB time of 1.24.29 in the 100m backstroke.
