Fins got 2022 off to a very encouraging start, when seven Fins’ swimmers qualified for the first round of the Scottish East District Age Group Championships, held at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes, last Saturday and Sunday.

The seven swimmers competed in a total of twenty-seven swims from which they achieved 3 District Titles plus a new Fins Club Record. In addition, they also won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals and had seven other top 10 finishes. The twenty-seven swims also produced 22 PBs, an improvement rate of just over 81%.

The events for, round 1, consisted a 50m in each of the four individual strokes plus a 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley.

Top swimmer for Fins was Adam Selbie who will be 12 this year and competed in the 11/12 boys’ category. Adam won all three titles, although he did have to share the 50m backstroke title with Luke Thomson of Bathgate, when the electronic timing failed to separate them, even down to one hundredth of a second, with both boys recording a time of 36.43 seconds

Adam’s other two titles came in the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley. Both were won by a much more comfortable margin. In addition to his three titles Adam also won silver in both the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly, and a bronze in the 50m breaststroke.

The new club record was set in the 50m breaststroke by Erin Taylor, 17 and over girls, and in another close final where the first three were separated by just 0.5 of a second Erin took the bronze medal. In the heats, despite recording a PB, Erin fell short of the record by just 5 one hundredths of a second but another 0.41 second improvement in the final secured the record which had been held by Ashley Warrender since October 2003. Ashley recorded the time at the old Glenrothes Pool. Erin’s time of 34.51 improved the record by 0.36 seconds.

Erin also finished 7th in the 400m freestyle.

The remaining silver medal was won by Ethan Pate, 11/12 boys, in the 400m freestyle. However, Ethan will be 11 this year so will still be in the same category next year.

Ethan also finished as 1st reserve for the final of the 50m Breaststroke and 2nd reserve for the 50m freestyle.

The final bronze medal was won by Irys Blair 11/12 girls who had had an excellent swim in the 400m freestyle to secure the bronze. Irys also finished in 6th place in the 50m backstroke.

The other two finalists were Steven Pate, 15 years boys, who finished in 4th place in the 50m breaststroke; and Mark Scott, 16 years boys who was 5th – 50m breaststroke, 6th – 50m butterfly, 7th – 400m freestyle and was 1st reserve for the 50m freestyle.

The remaining swimmer, who finished just outside the top 10 in his only swim of the weekend, was Blair Wardlaw, 17 and over boys, who finished 12th in the 50m backstroke.

Club Info.

Following the publication of the 50m Freestyle rankings there is already some movement including a new entry and overall there were significant achievements, at EDAG Round 1, especially that Erin now sits at the top of the girls’ 50m breaststroke ranking by beating the time set 18 years and 3 months ago. Hopefully, Erin can now push the time down even further.

The next highest ranking swimmer was Mark who moved up the 50m Butterfly rankings from 46th to 19th with an overall improvement of 1.55 second PB. This perhaps doesn’t seem much but as you move up a level in swimming it becomes difficult to achieve large PBs. Mark also had two 7place improvements, these coming in the 50m Breaststroke where he moved from 28th to 21st with a 1.27 second PB, and in his 50m freestyle he moved from 46th to 39th with a 0.96 second PB.

Congratulations to Steven for breaking into the top 50 in the 50m breaststroke, with a 6.44 second PB putting him at 31st in one of the most competitive events in the Fins boys’ rankings. Despite a 7.45 second PB, in his 50m backstroke, Steven is sitting just outside the top 50 ranking by just 1.85 seconds and in the 50m Freestyle a 5.05 second PB leaves him just 0.93 of a second outside the top 50.

The 3 largest PBs came at the other end of the age scale with Adam making a 28.52 seconds improvement in his 400m freestyle while Ethan improved by 22.62 seconds in the same event. Irys reduced her 400m freestyle time by 12.92 seconds.

At the end of the weekend the points accrued for the Fife Clubs are, subject to ratification, FS – 27; IS – 20; CE – 18; GS – 6; and SR – 5.

Good weekend all round so keep it going.