Fins’ swimmers got 2019 off to a great start last weekend when nine swimmers competed in the 3rd Round of the Scottish East District Age Group Championships, held at the Michael Woods Centre, Glenrothes. All swims in this round were contested over 200 metres.
From a total of 16 swims the swimmers returned two Championship Titles, one silver and one bronze medal plus a further nine top 10 placings.
The top swimmer for Fins was 13 year old Erin Taylor. Erin secured her first ever District Title on the Saturday when she won the 14 years girls Butterfly in the closest race of the weekend. At the halfway mark Erin was 2 seconds adrift of the leader and lying in bronze medal position. By the 150m mark she had moved into the silver medal spot but the gap was still a considerable 1.3 seconds. However, an excellent final 50m and a perfectly timed finish saw Erin touching out Louisa Stoddart, of Haddington, by just 7 one hundredths of a second. On the Sunday Erin achieved her second district title by winning the Breaststroke, this time a bit more comfortably finishing 2.92 seconds ahead of Rachel Saunders of Warrender Baths Club.
Erin also finished 10th in the 200m Freestyle.
The only other medallist was 16 year old Caitlyn Dodds who won a silver medal in the Backstroke and a bronze in the Freestyle, both in the 17 and over girls.
12 year old Esme Lee had three top 10 finishes, in the 13 years girls events, when she finished 4th in the Breaststroke, just missing out on a medal by 0.35 seconds., 5th in the Backstroke and 7th in the Butterfly.
Top improver over the weekend was Mark Scott, 13 boys, who had an 11.16 second PB in the Breaststroke to gain him 5th spot and a 5.60 second PB to gain him another 5th place, this time in the Freestyle.
Another swimmer to secure a 5th place was Arran Stowe, 17 and over boys, in the Breaststroke, and the final top 10 spot went to Theo Goodfellow, 17 and over boys, who was 7th in the Breaststroke.
Neža Dolenc Luznar, 15 girls, was unfortunate in that she qualified for the final of the Butterfly in 2nd place, with a good PB, but was unable to compete in the final.
The remaining two swimmers who qualified but didn’t quite make the top 10 were Ben Lewis, 15 boys, and Euan Pate, 17/O boys.