Five Fins’ swimmers were back in competitive action at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, last Saturday, with very satisfactory results.
To gradually introduce more competition, the Scottish East District ran a short course time trial with swimmers able to compete in five events – 100m of the four individual strokes plus a 200m Individual Medley. The five swimmers competed in a total of 24 swims resulting in 18 PBs being recorded and the swims that didn’t quite make it were very close. All five swimmers recorded at least one PB, and gained one 1st place, two 2nd places, three 3rd places, plus a further nine top ten finishes.
The first placing went to Ben Lewis, 17 years boys, in the Freestyle. Ben also finished 3rd in the Backstroke and 4th in both the Breaststroke and Butterfly.
Erin Taylor, 16 years girls, finished 2nd in two events – the Breaststroke and Individual Medley. Erin also had two 4th placings in the Butterfly and Freestyle, and a 5th place in the backstroke
Mark Scott, 15 years boys, finished 3rd in two events – Butterfly and Individual Medley. Mark also had two 5th placings in the Breaststroke and Freestyle, and a 6th place in the Backstroke.
The final top ten spot was claimed by Jennifer Gordon, 15 years girls, who finished 10th in the Butterfly.
It wasn’t just the number of PBs that were impressive but the size of the improvements, with three of the PBs in double figures, and although he didn’t quite manage a top ten finish, Fins’ most improved swimmer was Steven Pate, 14 years boys, who reduced his Butterfly by 14.17 seconds and his Backstroke by 10.03 seconds.
The third PB in double figures was recorded by Mark who reduced his Individual Medley time by 10.84 seconds.
A few more Fins’ swimmers will get their first taste of competition, for more than 18 months, next Saturday, at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes, when those who did not qualify for the District event will compete in the Fife time trials