The Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, was the venue for the third and final round of the 2026 Scottish East District Age Group Championships.
Kirkcaldy based, Fins Competitive Swim Club had 11 swimmers who qualified for the event, with a total of 40 swims, recording an excellent 35 personal best times, maintaining their good start to the 2026 season.
Fins swimmers achieved 3 district titles, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals, plus a further 6 top 10 finishes.
The events on offer in the final round were 100m of all four individual strokes plus a 200m individual medley.
With so many good swims, at this level, it is not surprising to see a whole host of changes to the Fins all-time Long Course top 50 rankings, which, as you will be aware, is still being populated.’
Top swimmer for Fins was once again 14 year old Lilian Blair who won the 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke, and 100m butterfly titles in her age group. This brings her total wins to 8 over the three rounds of the championships. Lilian also won two silver medals for the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly, not surprisingly, Lilian had a couple of no changes in the rankings but also recorded the highest equal ranking position moving from 13th to 8th place in the 100m butterfly and she also moved from 16th to 11th in the 100m backstroke.
The remaining four silver medals were won by 13 year old Millie Whytock in her 200m individual medley, 100m freestyle, 199m backstroke and 100m butterfly, and was13th in the 100m breaststroke.
Millie also recorded the highest equal ranking position when she moved from 12th to 8th in the 100m backstroke and she moved just one place lower in her 100m freestyle moving from 14th to 9th. All Millie’s swims impacted the rankings as she also moved from 14th to 12th in the 100m butterfly, 21st to 20th in the 200m individual medley and from 26th to 24th in the 100m backstroke
The two bronze medals were won by 12 year old Elliot Blair in his 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle. Elliot also finished 6th in the 200m individual medley and 7th in the 100m butterfly.
Elliot recorded the largest PB by a Fins’ swimmer by reducing his previous best for the 100m butterfly by 16.44, but despite this there was no change to Elliots ranking position. Elliot also moved from 26th to 2th in his 100m backstroke and from 30th to 29th in the 100m freestyle.
The other swimmers to make a top 10 finish were –
Irys Blair, 16 years, 5th – 100m backstroke, and 7th – 200m individual medley. 14th in the 100m breaststroke,16th in the 100m butterfly, and 21st in the 100m freestyle.
Irys is yet another swimmer to record the highest equal ranking position moving from 9th to 8th in the 100m backstroke. She also moves from 17th to 16th in the 100m breaststroke, 19th to 17th in the 200m individual medley, and from 22nd to 21st in the 100m butterfly.
Harvey Whytock, 16 years, 5th – 100m butterfly, and 14th in the 200m individual medley Harvey recorded a 9th place in the 100m butterfly rankings.
Cole Gray, 14 years, 9th – 100m backstroke, 11th in both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley, 14th – 100m freestyle, and 1th in the 100m breaststroke. Cole had two swims that changed his ranking position moving from 23rd to 22nd in the 200m individual medley and from 28th to 27th in the 100m freestyle.
The other swimmers who qualified for the Championships were – Caleb Gray, 15, who was 15th in the 200m individual medley, 17th in the 100m breaststroke, 20th in the 100m backstroke, 25th in the 100m butterfly, and 26th in the 100m freestyle. At this level PBs are unlikely to be large, but Caleb recorded the 2nd and 3rd largest PBs of 8.39 seconds in his 200m individual medley and 6.94 seconds in his 100m butterfly moving him from 23rd to 15th and 21st to 18th in the rankings respectively. In addition, Caleb moves from18th to 15th in his 100m breaststroke from 19th to, 17th in his 100m backstroke, and 26th to 23rd in his 100m freestyle.
Ethan Pate, 15, was 17th inn the 100m breaststroke, 19th in the 100m butterfly, 21st in the 100m backstroke, 22nd in the 200m individual medley, and 26th in the 100m freestyle. Ethan had three no changes but did move up the rankings from 20th to 16th in the 200m individual medley, and from 21st to 19th in the 100m freestyle.
Sadie Paton, 14, only had the one swim, finishing 16th in the 100m backstroke, but she made the most of it with the 4th largest PB, of 6.72 seconds moving her from 36th to to 28th in the rankings.
Ava Watson, 16, again only had the one swim, also finishing in 16th place in her 1oom freestyle and moved up the rankings as a result from 22nd to 16th.
Lily-Mae McDonald 11, Fins youngest qualifier this time in the 100 freestyle in her 1st long course swim inn this event, finishing in 21st place and as a result enters the rankings in 41st position,
Well done to all the swimmers who were competing.
Ken White,
Club Press Officer