The ten lane, 50m pool, at the Aberdeen Sports Village was the venue for the Scottish premier age group competition for 2025, the Scottish National Age Group Championships which ran from Saturday, 5th April to Wednesday 9th April inclusive.
There was a full programme of events over the five days which consisted of heats and finals, except for the 800m and 1500m freestyle, and the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley for 14 years and under, which were heat declared winner events.
The Championships attracted a large entry from all over the UK, from Shetland to Exeterr, plus the Isle of Man. Fins had 10 swimmers who qualified for the meet, with four doing so for the first time at this level.
Unfortunately, there were no medals won on this occasion but eight of the swimmers managed to qualify for a final, or reserve place, or the equivalent. They competed in a total of 41 swims and recorded 30 PBs which is down slightly on previous meets, but there were many positives from the swims. The non PBs tended to be just a few tenths of a second outside the swimmer’s previous best, set in recent weeks, and similarly most PBs were a few tenths of a second better, plus there were some impressive PBs, including four in double figures.
Top swimmer for Fins was Lilian Blair, 11/13 years female, who just missed out on a medal by 0.16 seconds in the 100m breaststroke. Lilian just qualified for the final in 10th place, but a brilliant swim in the final saw her record a 4.22 second PB to finish in 4th place. Lilian also finished 5th in the 100m butterfly, 7th in the 200m breaststroke, 8th in both 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly, 9th in the 400m individual medley and equivalent of 1st reserve (11th) in the 400m freestyle. Lilian also recorded two other notable PBs reducing her 200m butterfly by 11.79 seconds, and her 200m individual medley by 6.57 seconds. Lilian now moves up the club long course top 50 rankings from 14th to 3rd in the 100m breaststroke, just 9.20 seconds away from the club record, 9th to 8th in the 200m breaststroke, from 11th to 10th in the 200m butterfly, 19th to 14th in the 100m butterfly, 21st to 16th in the 200m individual medley
Millie Whytock, also 11/13 years female, qualified for three finals finishing 8th in both the 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly, and 9th in the 100m backstroke. Millie recorded an 8.42 second PB in her 200m backstroke. She also sits in the middle of the three year age group at 12 years old and was the only 12 year old to make the final of the 100m butterfly, and was 2nd 12 year old in the 100m backstroke, and 3rd 12 year old in both the 200m backstroke and 100m freestyle, although she did not quite make the final in the freestyle. Millie moves from19th to 14th in the 200m backstroke and from 20th to 15th in the 100m butterfly.
Eva Watson, 14 female, was 8th in the 800m freestyle and 11th in the 1500m freestyle. Eva had two entries to the top 50, becoming only the 2nd female to record a 1500m freestyle time and therefore is ranked 2nd. She also enters the rankings in 6th place in the 800m freestyle.
Ethan Pate, 14 male, gained an 8th place in the 800m freestyle, recoding a 13.23 second PB in the process, and finished 12th in the 1500m freestyle, with the second largest PB by a Fins’ swimmer of 14.89 seconds. Ethan moves from 6th to 5th in the 1500m freestyle, 12th to 11th in the 400m individual medley, and from 20th to 18th in the 200m individual medley.
Kristin Mackay16/18 female, was 8th in the 1500m freestyle,
Adam Selbie, 15 male, was 10th in the 100m backstroke, and 1st reserve for the finals of the 50m butterfly and 400m freestyle, recording a 4.40 second PB in the freestyle event. Adam also qualified in 8th place for the 200m backstroke final, but had to withdraw because of illness, which brought his championships to a premature end.
Cole Gray, 13 male, was 10th in the 200m backstroke. However, despite recording Fins’ largest PB of 15.97 seconds, in his 200m freestyle, he was unable to make the final. Cole enters the rankings in 13th place in the 200m butterfly, in 14th place in the 400m freestyle, and 16th in the 200m backstroke. Cole also moves from 25th to 22nd in the 200m freestyle.
Irys Blair, 15 female, was 2nd reserve for the 200m backstroke and was one of the swimmers who achieved a marginal PB in both her swims. Irys moves from 10th to 9th in the 200m freestyle, and enters the rankings in 9th place in the 400m individual medley.
The remaining two qualifiers were Caleb Gray, 14 male, who moves from 16th to 15th in the 200m backstroke, and Harvey Whytock, 15 male, who enters the rankings in 5th place in the 200m butterfly.
There were also seven other PBs recorded that produced no change in the rankings.