The first round of the Scottish East District Age Group Swimming Championships was held at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes at the weekend. There were four distance events contested for both male and female swimmers and it was good news all round for the Kirkcaldy based club, Fins CSC, and their five swimmers who competed, as they had an excellent weekend.
The five swimmers competed in eight events with all swims achieving PBs, and this resulted in two District titles, three silver medals, a bronze medal and a 4th and 6th place finish, so good news for head coach Ian Lewis and senior coach Iain MacDonald.
Top swimmer in terms of achievement with two District titles was Adam Selbie, 13 years boys, who won both the 400m and 1500m Freestyle in his age group. Depending on any other meets that took place over the weekend Adam’s 1500m freestyle time of 19 minutes. 9.71 seconds is the fastest time recorded by a 12 year old in Scotland this year and resulted in a PB of 1 minute 36.42 seconds.
NB Since the report was first written the rankings have been updated from the previous weekend and Adam’s time is now the 2nd fastest in Scotland by a 12.year old behind Arin Machin, City of Glasgow, but the gap has been reduced considerably.
His 400m freestyle PB was a bit more modest at 2.75 seconds but his previous best had been achieved more recently.
Adam’s 1500m PB moves him from 33rd to 29th in the Fins’ all time top 50 rankings.
The top performance of the weekend came from Erin Taylor, 17 and over girls, who won silver in the 400m individual medley just behind Holly McGill of Heart of Midlothian, who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Game in Birmingham earlier this year.
Erin’s performance broke the 5 minute barrier for the first time recording a time of 4 minutes 59.93 seconds, giving her 3.52 second PB. This was just 0.77 seconds short of the Fins Club record, which would have been Erin’s 11th record for the year.
NBB. Apologies to Erin. When the report was first written the swimscotland results had not been published and her 400m freestyle was missed on Meet Mobile. Erin just missed out on a bronze medal by 1.04 seconds, finishing in 4th place.
Ethan Pate, 11/12 boys, won two silver medals in the 400m individual medley and 400m freestyle, recording PBs of 36.74 seconds and 12.39 seconds respectively.
The bronze medal was won by Caleb Gray, 11/12 boys, who was competing in his first district championships, and this was achieved in the 400m freestyle with an 18.64 second PB.
The remaining swimmer was Irys Blair, 13 years girls, who just missed out on a medal by just 0.18 seconds when she finished 4th in the 400m freestyle, recording a 6.29 second PB. Irys also finished 6th in the 400m individual medley, with a PB of 11.63 seconds.
Irys’ time of 6 minutes 4.50 seconds gains her entry into the Fins’ all time top 50 rankings in 50th place and replaces Lianne St. Aubyn who recorded her time at Glenrothes in February 1996.
The final two rounds will be held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, in January and March 2023.