The final round of the Scottish East District Age Group Championships were held, last weekend, at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, as a long course event, consisting of 100m of the four individual strokes plus a 200m individual medley.

Fins had nine swimmers competing in 30 individual swims plus a tenth swimmer who competed in two successful relays. The individual swims achieved 26 long course PBs, an improvement rate of 87%. They also resulted in five more District titles, plus two individual, and one relay, silver medals, and 6 other finalists, and another two club long course records.

Fins also finished in 6th place in the Solripe Trophy from the 28 District clubs competing which is quite an achievement for a relatively small club. They also finished as top Fife club from the 7 clubs competing with Incas 2nd and Carnegie 3rd.

The Solripe Trophy was won by Warrender Baths who amassed more points than the next five clubs together, such is their dominance at club level.

In terms of performance Fins top swimmer was Erin Taylor who won two District Titles and set two new Fins club records, one she broke twice. Erin broke her own 100m breaststroke club record in the heats by 2.26 seconds and again in the final by a further 0.66 seconds setting a new record time of 1 minute 13.80 seconds. A 2.92 second improvement at this level is exceptional and when the rankings are updated later in the week it should see Erin ranked as top 17 years girl in Scotland and, depending on any meets that took place in the rest of GB, she may be ranked 5th equal in GB.

Erin also set a new club record at the 50m split in the breaststroke in a time of 34.92 seconds which improved her own previous record by 0.91 seconds.

Erin had a fairly comfortable win in the breaststroke by 2.54 seconds but it was quite different in her other District title, the 200m individual medley when, once again, she was up against Thanrada McGregor of Warrender Baths Club where in the final transition from breaststroke to freestyle Erin came out of the turn over a body length down but an exception freestyle length saw her just touch out Thanrada.

 

In term of District Titles top swimmer goes to Adam Selbie, 11/12 boys who had an another exceptional weekend winning three District Titles in backstroke, butterfly and individual medley, fairly comfortably, with winning margins of 2.81; 2.02; and 1.47 seconds respectively.

Adam also won two silver medals in the breaststroke and freestyle losing out to Reuben Lees, Warrender Baths, by 1.72 seconds in the breaststroke and Fraser Muir, Carnegie, by 0.72 seconds in the freestyle.

 

The other finalists were:

Mark Scott, 16 boys, 5th – breaststroke and 1st reserve for the butterfly

Steven Pate, 15 boys, 5th – breaststroke

Irys Blair, 11/12 girls, 7th in both the butterfly and individual medley

Ethan Pate, 11/12 boys, 7th – butterfly and 1st reserve for freestyle. This is quite an achievement for Ethan who is only 11.

 

The other swimmers who did well but didn’t quite make a final were Jennifer Gordon (16), Heidi Mellon (15), and Grace Wilson (15)

 

The 11/12 years had two successful mixed relay swims with the team of Irys, Adam, Ethan, and Ayva Mellon winning a silver medal in the 4x50m freestyle, finishing just 1.42 seconds behind Warrender Baths.

The same team also finished in 5th place in the 4x50m medley relay.

 

Club Info.

The 15/16 year olds also managed to field a relay team that finished 12th in both the 4x50m Medley and Freestyle. The team for both was Jennifer, Steven, Mark, and Grace.

Congratulations to Erin Taylor. As at 4pm on 4 April 2022 the rankings have now been updated and confirms that Erin lies 5th in the long course British rankings for the 17 years girls’ 100m breaststroke and number one in the Scottish rankings. Erin is also ranked 4th in Scotland for the 17 years’ girls 200m individual medley, although when/if the North District results are included, Erin will drop to 5th as Nula Gow, Garioch, recorded a 2.26.85.

 

Congratulations also to Adam and Ethan who are well up in the rankings but it should be noted, especially for the 11 year old boys, the rankings are still sparsely populated. The North and Midlands do not include 11 years in their championships

 

A word of caution here, no matter where you are in the rankings the challenge you face is to move higher up the rankings, unless of course you are at the top, in which case the challenge is to stay there. Not always an easy challenge but every swimmer will/should be aspiring to improve their times.

 

At his point in time, we do not have a Fins long course top 50 ranking list, although we are working towards it. The long course rankings have only been kept since 2010 as, prior to this, there was not too many opportunities for long course swims, although some club records will predate 2010.

 

Therefore, all the swimmers who swam at EDAGs are now recorded on the list and are:

Erin Taylor – 1st 50m and 100m Breaststroke, and also the 200m Breaststroke from the Edinburgh International meet. Erin is also 4th in the 200m Individual Medley and 6th – 100m Freestyle.

Mark Scott – 6th – 100m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley; 7th – 100m Breaststroke and 9th – 100m Freestyle, up two places.

Steven Pate – 9th – 100m Breaststroke, up 5 places; 17th in both 100m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley

Jennifer Gordon – 13th – 100m Butterfly

Adam Selbie – 15th in both 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke; 16th – 100m Backstroke; 18th – 200m Individual Medley; 21st – 100m Freestyle.

Ethan Pate – 17th in both 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke; 19th – 200m Individual Medley; 21st – 100m Backstroke; 23rd – 100m Freestyle

Heidi Mellon – 20th – 100m Breaststroke

Irys Blair – 24th – 100m Butterfly; 29th – both 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley; 31st – 100m Backstroke; 34th – 100m Freestyle

Grace Wilson – 25th – 100m Freestyle.

 

It should be noted that with the exception of Erin, Mark and Steven, the other six swimmers were recording long course times for the first time so what is shown above is their entry level into the rankings.