The Fife Leagues were held at the Michael Woods Centre on 3rd May 2025, and from a club perspective proved too be very interesting and once again a successful day. Thirty eight swimmers were in action, 13 in the Novice League, and 25 in the League. While we are still in the long course season, the leagues are short course, and with another successful day in terms of improvement, and as we move towards the end of the long course season, this must be the best long course season for Fins since Scottish Swimming decided to change the swimming calendar to make two separate seasons in the year.
In the novice league the 13 swimmers competed in 17 swims, and in the league the 25 swimmers competed in 48 swims, both achieving an improvement rate of 77%, 13 PBs and 40 PBs respectively. Most of the novice swims were first time swims, thus setting the swimmer’s PB, but there were two actual PBs. In the league the 40 PBs only tells a bit of what happened in that there were several good PBs and two exceptional PBs considering the longest event was just 200m.
In terms of finishing positions the novice swimmers achieved two 1st placings, one 2nd place, and three 3rd placings, plus a further 9 swims in the top 10. The finishing places in the league were incredible, with 23 of the 25 swimmers achieving a 3rd place or better, plus the remaining two swimmers had a 4th place and a 5th place, respectively. These consisted of twelve 1st placings from 10 different swimmers, eight 2nd placings, and thirteen 3rd placings.
As it was a short course event Fins’ top 50 all-time rankings are well established and therefore it is difficult to impact them, especially for the younger swimmers, as there is no age group consideration. That said, there were five changes, including two new entries..
There was also another first for Fins when a family swam in the leagues. Alix Jack swam in the 8 to 10 years female novice league, while Charlie Jack, swam in the 8 to 12 years male league, and Mum Vick swam in the 15 years and over female league.
Details of the performances were –
Fife League
There were two swimmers who achieved a double win and they were Lilian Blair, 13/14 female, who won the 200m freestyle and 200m breaststroke, and Erin Taylor 15?O female, who won the 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke.
Lilian featured in two of the ranking changes, one improvement and one new entry, with her top placing coming in the 200m breaststroke, courtesy of a 4.61 second PB which moves her from 26th to 19th. Lilian also enters the 200m freestyle ranking in 32nd spot with a 4.49 second PB. We therefore lose a swimmer and that is Kirsten Haig, who set her time at the Fife Performance meet in May 2014. The time now required to enter the ranking is 2 minutes 24.75 seconds.
It is good to see Erin competing again and while it would be unrealistic to expect her to match the times, she did at her peak, she is still very capable of turning in a good performance, winning both her 200 individual medley and 200m breaststroke comfortable with a margin of 15.52 and 11.74 seconds respectively. The main thing as with all ages is to enjoy the experience of competitive swimming and, should the swimmer wish, competitive swimming can be a healthy lifetime pursuit.
Elliot Blair, 8/12 years male, won his 200m individual medley with a good 7.80 second PB, and was 2nd in the 200m backstroke.
Caleb Gray, 13/14 male won the 200m individual medley and was 2nd in the 100m freestyle, with two steady PBs.
Eva Watson, 13/14 female, won the 200m backstroke and was 3rd in the 200m freestyle, both events with good PBs, 7.16 seconds in the 200m backstroke and 5.31 seconds in the 200m freestyle.
Irys Blair, 15/O female, won her 100m backstroke and was 3rd in the 200m backstroke.
Jennifer Gordon, 15/O female, won the 100m freestyle and was 3rd in the 50m butterfly. Jennifer’s 100m freestyle was a new entry to the rankings, having achieved a good 2.80 second PB. And enters the rankings in 28th place. This time the swimmer to depart is Louise King who set her time at Glenrothes in October 1995. The time now required to enter the rankings is 1 minute 6.30 seconds.
Jack Campbell, 13/14 male won the 100m butterfly and was 4th in the 100m freestyle, Jack recorded the 4th largest PB, by a Fins’ swimmer, of 9.27 seconds.
Also, with a win and 4th place was Ethan Pate, 13/14 male, who won the 200m freestyle and was 4th in the 200m butterfly. Ethan moved up the rankings in his 200m butterfly from 35th to 34th.
The remaining winner was Charlie Jack, 8/12 male, who won the 100m breaststroke and was 7th in the 50m freestyle. Although he won the 100m breaststroke he did so with a very modest PB, but had a very good PB in his 50m freestyle of 7.27 seconds.
Lily-Mae McDonald, 8/12 female, was 2nd in the 50m freestyle and 3rd in the 100m backstroke, swimming the backstroke event for the first time.
Chelsea Walker, 8/12 female, was 2nd in the 100m backstroke and 4th in 100m breaststroke, recording a good 6.64 second PB in her 100m breaststroke.
Sadie Paton, 13/14 female, was also 2nd in her 200m backstroke and 50m backstroke, and she also recorded a good PB of 6.26 seconds in her 200m backstroke.
Another 2nd and 4th place was achieved by Cole Gray, 13/14 male, in his 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle. Cole recorded the 2nd largest PB of the day with an excellent 32.05 seconds in his 200m backstroke.
The final swimmer to achieve a 2nd and 4th place was Ben Lewis, 15/O male, in the 100m butterfly and 50m breaststroke. Ben recoded a good 2.40 second PB in his 100m butterfly which moves him up the rankings from 36th to 21st, being the largest move up the rankings.
Kimberley McCabe, 15/O female, was 2nd in the 100m breaststroke and 7th in the 50m back.
Grace Wilson, 15/O female, achieved two 3rd placings, in the 50m and 100m freestyle.
There were four swimmers achieving a 3rd and 5th place, namely –
Bryony Smart, 8/12 female, in the 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke. Bryony recorded the 3rd largest PB, in her 100m breaststroke reducing her previous best by 11.85 seconds.
Alekandra Waz, 13/14 female, in her 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke. Both were first time swims for Alekandra.
Vick Jack, 15/O female, in her 100m butterfly and 50m butterfly, and achieved a PB in both events.
Steven Pate, 15/O male, in the 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle.
Summer Ramshaw, 13/14 female, was 3rd in the 100m backstroke and 8th in the 100m freestyle. Summer recorded the largest PB of 33.53 seconds in her 100m backstroke, which is an incredible improvement over 100m.
Harvey Whytock, 15/O male, was 3rd in his 100m butterfly, with a good 2.75 second PB.
The two remaining swimmers were Olivia Back, 8/12 female who was 4th in the 50m freestyle, with a PB, and Olivia Hathaway, 13/14 female, who was 5th in the 100m breaststroke and 9th in the 50m freestyle, with both swims producing PBs.
Novice League
Top swimmer in the Novice league was Grace Pereira, 11/13 female, who won her 25m butterfly and was 10th in 50m breaststroke. Both were first swims in these events.
The other swimmer to win was Izzy Crawford,11/13 female, who won 25m backstroke and was 13th in the 25m breaststroke. Izzy recorded the largest PB in her backstroke event of 0.88 seconds.
Luke Gilhooley, 11/13 male, finished 2nd in the 50m freestyle and was 7th in the 50m backstroke.
Sarah Macleod, 11/13 female, was 3rd in both the 50m backstroke, and the 50m freestyle.
Cain Gray, 8/11 male was 3rd in the 25m butterfly and 5th in the 50m freestyle.
Ava- Liana Drummond, 8/11 female was 5th in both the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
Eilidh Needham, 11/13 female, was 8th in the 50m backstroke, and 10th in the 50m freestyle. Eilidh was the second swimmer to record an actual PB and that was in her 50m freestyle, reducing her previous best by 0.17 seconds.
Abby Crawford, 8/11 female, was 8th in the 25m backstroke, and
Alix Jack was 10th in the 25m breaststroke and 13th in the 25m backstroke.
Given the achievements above it is going to be a hard act to follow, but with the improvement shown, so far this year, anything is possible.
‘Labore et Scientia’ – through hard work and understanding. Please remember that understanding is just as important as hard work, and vice versa.
Keep up the good work.