Fins had five swimmers competing in the first open water competition of 2025, The Scottish East District Championships and Open Championships, held at Lochore Meadows on Sunday 8 June.

The meet attracted a large entry from all over Scotland with six categories available for both male and female swimmers, which were Novice, three Junior age groups, one Senior age group,17 to 24 years, and an open category, all ages.

 

Top swimmer for Fins was Caleb Gray, 13/14 years male, who was 4th in the 1 km age group open category, but becomes Fins’ newest Scottish East District Champion. Caleb was involved in the closest race of the weekend finishing just 15 seconds behind the winner, Lewis Morgan, University of Aberdeen Performance Team, 14 seconds from 2nd place, Jensen Basketter, City of Glasgow Swim Team, and just 3 seconds behind the 3rd placed swimmer, Charlie Lyne, Inverclyde. In the East District Championships, Caleb took the tile by just three seconds. !5 Seconds is not really a large margin in open water swimming as it is sometimes difficult for a swimmer to ensure they follow the most effective line, with no lane ropes or pool markings to guide them.

 

Lilian Blair, 13/14 years female, was 7th in the 1km age group open, but was 2nd in the East District Championships, 40 seconds behind Freya Edie of Step Rock ASC.

Also, finishing 7th was Elliot Blair, in the 500m freestyle novice event.

Irys Blair, 15/16 years female, was 11th in the 1 km age group open, and 4th in the East District Championship.

Finally, Sadie Paton 13/14 years female, was 15th in the 1km age group open and 7th in the East District Championships.

Towards the end of 2024, Scottish Swimming introduced the Scottish National Open Water Development Squad covering the ages from 12 to 18. The purpose is to identify likely open water talent and to encourage more swimmers to become involved in Open Water Swimming.  Fins currently have two swimmers in the Development Squad namely Kristen Mackay, 17 years, who was unavailable to swim last Sunday, and Caleb Gray, 14 years.

 

Thanks to Laura McQuade and Dawn Blair for providing the photos