South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club

Dunedin Challenge, Bridge of Don September Splash, Cults Otter Bibby Offshore Challenge - 3-4 September 2011

2011-09-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

Swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club competed in three competitions last weekend in two different locations. Fifteen year olds Kirsty Laurenson, Sarah Keay, Karl Eldridge and Donnie Price travelled to Glenrothes to compete in the Dunedin Challenge, a competition that provided a broad range of races.

Donnie had opted for 10 events and had excellent swims producing 9 personal best times (pbs) in total and gained 7 gold and 3 silver medals, making him the outstanding swimmer in the 15 and over age group. The times Donnie was most pleased with were his 100m and 200m breaststroke; a 1.12.68 and a 2.34.74 and a terrific 5 seconds improvement in his 200m backstroke with a 2.17.27.

Karl was kept very busy swimming 13 races overall including 50m sprints in addition to the 100s and 200s. He had several good swims but his most successful were a super 4 second pb in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1.14.95 and a 2.36.61 in the 200m backstroke. In the 100m butterfly he once again produced a pb with a 1.19.28. Kirsty also raced a mix of all the distances. Close to entry times in her events, she managed to produce pb times in the 100m breaststroke when she took off 2 seconds for a 1.34.00 and in the 50m freestyle a half second improvement resulted in a 31.10. Her highest place was 6^th in the 50m backstroke just a fraction of a second behind team mate Sarah who finished 5^thon her pb with a time of 37.88. Sarah also came 5th in the 50m breaststroke, again very close to her entry time.

Meanwhile in Aberdeen, 8 younger swimmers swam at the Bridge of Don September Splash and the Cults Otters Bibby Offshore Challenge. Over the two days there was a mixture of highs and lows, disappointments and successes, but each and every swimmer achieved at least one good personal best time and three of the team managed to win medals.

The highlight for Darin Eldridge, 14, was winning the 100m breaststroke at the September Splash in a very good pb time of 1.27.68. He was closely followed by 13 year old James Morris whose superb 6 second improvement with a 1.29.86 earned him a well deserved silver place. Throughout the weekend, James consistently showed improvement, making pbs in 5 out of 6 events. Likewise, Philip Hilditch, 14, achieved pbs in all but one race at the Splash with a 3 second pb for a 1.28.21 in the 100m backstroke, and 4 seconds in breaststroke with a 1.34.36. Once more it was in the breaststroke where there was the biggest improvement when Scott Riise, 13, also improved his time for a 1.38.89. In addition, Scott gained pbs in the 100m IM and 100m freestyle. Last, but not least of the boys, Eddie Price, 12, swam all 6 events at the Cults Otter gala and was South Mainland’s only medallist for the day. He achieved pbs in breaststroke with a 1.28.58 and in the 200m IM with a 2.43.51 and in both came 2^nd. Eddie also took silver place in the 100m freestyle and the 400m freestyle, making him overall runner up in his age group.

After putting in a good performance in the 100m IM, Cara Steven, 12, showed a huge improvement in her 100m butterfly. The following day she successfully smashed her entry time for her 100m breaststroke and with a 5 second pb time of 1.32.41 finished 6^th. This also ranked her overall 10^th in the 11/12 year age group. Curstaidh Mackay, 12, produced good swims and her highest place was a 4^th in the 100m butterfly at the Splash. At Cults the following day after a well paced 400m freestyle finishing on her entry time she went on to gain her best time of the weekend with a pb time of 3.06.59 in the 200m IM.

Sophie Morris, 11, had 4 races at the Cults gala and produced two pbs. In the 100m butterfly, she took a second off her entry time with a 1.28.36, and in the closing event of the afternoon swam an excellent 1.11.73 in the 100m freestyle gaining 7^th place.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank NorthLink Ferries, Mainlands, and Freefield Pharmacy for their support.

North District Open Championships - 4-5 June 2011

2011-09-13T11:24:00.001-07:00

Representing South Mainland ASC, brothers Donnie and Eddie Price competed at the North District Open Championships at Westhill last weekend. 14 year old Donnie swam 12 events and gained several personal bests over the two days. His first PB came with a 4.20.31 in the Men’s 400m freestyle, a time just inside the qualifying mark for the National Youth Squad. It was also good enough to place him in reserve position for the final. Due to one swimmer withdrawing he then raced the final where, although unable to improve his time, he finished in 5^th place, his best achievement of the competition. Donnie’s next highest place was in the 200m breaststroke, where equalling his entry time gave him eighth place. PBs were made in the 200m backstroke, one of the events that he will be swimming at the Island Games and in the remainder of the freestyle events; 50m, 100m and 200m.

Donnie had opted not to swim the two longer freestyle events at the competition, but brother Eddie, had entered the 800m and 1500m freestyle. The 12 year old, as the youngest and smallest swimmer in Saturday’s 800m freestyle, produced a very well paced swim, so was very disappointed to finish a second outside his best time. However, Eddie perked up in learning that as reserve he would get the chance to race the 1500m the following day. With his target of breaking 19 minutes, determined Eddie had a superb race, keeping up with a couple of older lads then overtaking one of them. After maintaining a good steady pace he finished strongly and with a final sprint achieved his goal by the narrowest of margins touching in 18.59.84.

Buckie Age Group Championships, 23-24 April 2011

2011-05-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Eleven year old Sophie Morris very successfully brought home two silver and two bronze medals from the Buckie Age Group Championships at the weekend. Competing in the 10/11 year age group, the South Mainland ASC youngster started her tremendous weekend by slicing over half a minute from her PB in the 400m freestyle with a fantastic time of 5.26.72 to take her first silver medal. Throughout a demanding schedule of ten races in the 2 day competition her excellent form never deteriorated when race after race she produced times faster than entry times. On the Saturday she improved her 100m backstroke by 3 seconds and her 200m freestyle by 14 seconds. Sunday morning started with Sophie breaking her target time in the 100m freestyle and with a superb 1.12.19 she won the bronze. In the last session of the weekend a very strong 400m IM gained her another silver with a time of 6.20.67, and shortly afterwards she smashed her 100m butterfly time to take the bronze and finished her day with a five second PB in her 200m backstroke. Not only was each of Sophie’s times a PB, but times produced in her 400s and 200s are within qualifying standard for Scottish Swimming’s District Regional Programme (DRP).

Also swimming in the same age group was 10 year old Erraid Davies, who competed in seven events. She successfully matched her entry time for the 400m freestyle which was followed by a very good 2 second PB in her backstroke for a 1.29.27. Two more PBs were gained in the 200m freestyle with a 2.53.10 and the 100m freestyle with a 1.20.41.

Vhairi Davies, 12, swam 6 events and gained PBs in the 100m backstroke with a 1.23.49 and in the 200m freestyle with a 2.47.78.

South Mainland had two 13 year old boys competing. James Morris raced in nine events and showed his greatest improvements in the 200m events. New PBs were achieved with a 2.31.95 in the freestyle and an excellent 8 seconds off his time in backstroke gave him a 2.47.62. His 100m backstroke went under the 1.20 for the first time with a 1.19.50. At only his second competition south, Philip Hilditch gained a PB in each of his three races. His 100m freestyle was a 1 second improvement from last month with a 1.11.07, while his 200m freestyle was a 2.33.50 and 200m breaststroke a 3.31.06.

Scottish Swimming Stroke Camp

Meanwhile, South Mainland’s Eddie Price,12, having taken part in last year’s DRP was participating in one of Scottish Swimming’s ‘Stroke Camps’at the National Swimming Academy in Stirling. Lead Coach, Rob Greenwood, one of the country’s top coaches instructed and inspired not only the 24 selected swimmers but provided valuable experience for accompanying club coaches. Eddie learned a great deal during the day, as did SMASC coach Jan Price.

Scottish Masters

Prior to attending the stroke camp, Jan had been competing at the Scottish Masters held at Tollcross, Glasgow. Over 3 sessions, she raced 9 events and was pleased to finish within a fraction of a second of her times from last year in many events. In her age group, 50-54 years, she achieved 2 bronze, 5 silver and 1 gold. Jan opted to substitute receiving medals for a donation per medal to this year’s nominated charity the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.

Scottish National Age Group Championships, Tollcross, Glasgow, 7-10th April 2011

2011-04-17T01:12:00.000-07:00

South Mainland brothers Donnie and Eddie Price between them swam 32 races at the Scottish National Age Group Championships. Both had qualified for all 13 events and fourteen year old Donnie successfully reached 6 finals, achieved 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, and made long course PBs in every event during the 4 day competition.

Day one kicked off with the 200m butterfly followed by the 100m freestyle when Donnie made his first final. Following this was the longest event, the 1500 freestyle where Donnie, in typical fashion started at a fairly steady pace. Each 500 metres progressed quicker than the previous resulting in a good long course PB and a silver medal.

Two finals were reached on the second day in the 200m freestyle and the 200m breaststroke where he attained 4^th and 9^th places. Saturday’s heats brought a further two finals in the 200m IM and the 100m backstroke, but with 8 swimmers having achieved a time within 0.6seconds in the 100m breaststroke, Donnie missed that event’s final by a finger nail. However, the 400m freestyle provided an excellent racing opportunity when Donnie produced a flat out final 25metres to fight off a furiously fast finish by the swimmer in the next lane to just make it into the medals in 3^rd place.

The last day of the championships brought two races that he wasn’t fast enough a year ago to qualify for, the 100m butterfly and the 200m backstroke. He demonstrated how well he’s progressed in recent months in backstroke by making it to the final. Prior to finals, he still had the 800m freestyle. It was an interesting race as similar to last year the heat before his had produced two times faster than Donnie’s entry time. Again, Donnie tackled the race in a steady first half then picked up the pace gaining on, then overtaking several swimmers during the second half. Pushed all the way, Donnie had a very fast and necessary last 100metres which, although out-touched at the end was enough to have beaten the swimmer in the earlier heat by a second and to win the bronze in a new Shetland Age Group record.

For younger brother Eddie, 12, this was the first time competing at a National event. As the youngest Shetlander to have ever qualified for all 13 events, and indeed the only boy in his age group at the championships to do so, this in itself was a remarkable achievement. Having only ever raced some of the events once before in a 50metre pool, there were certainly new challenges. Nevertheless, he coped particularly well in his races and produced results very close to entry times, creating a set of long course PBs. One of his best times was in the 100m freestyle with a 1.06.48 and another was at the other end of the scale with a 19.47.62 in the 1500m freestyle, where he finished in his top position of 6^th place. A further top ten place was achieved in the 800m freestyle where he finished 9^th.

Dyce Hunting Trophy Meet, Westhill, 26th March 2011

2011-04-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Eight swimmers from South Mainland ASC took part in the Dyce Hunting Trophy Meet last Saturday in Westhill near Aberdeen, and all performed well, achieving many PBs, several top ten placings and additional success for three of the team by the winning of a medal.

Ten year old Erraid Davies had a tremendous race in her heat of the Girls 10/11 years 100m butterfly, winning it in an excellent time of 1.31.46, a new Shetland Age Group record for 10 year old Girls. However, a girl in the previous heat had swum a fraction faster, placing Erraid in silver position. Her 100m backstroke produced another PB with a 1.30.10 and a 5^th place and a further PB was achieved in the afternoon in the 100m freestyle where she finished 10^th in a time of 1.20.92.

It was in the Boys’12/13 years 100m freestyle that SMASC swimmers James Morris 13, and Scott Riise 12, each gained a medal. The best pals battled it out in adjacent lanes in the fastest heat. Both gained superb PBs - James with a 1.10.20 came second, closely followed by Scott in a 1.11.36 for third place.

James had earlier broken his 200IM time by 6 seconds with a 2.54.21 and his 100m breaststroke by one second to finish in 6^th place. In the last event of the day, the 100m IM he finished off by successfully gaining a PB of 1.23.71.

Scott also achieved a PB in his breaststroke with a 1.42.64 and was just outside his entry time in backstroke. Swimming in the same age group was Philip Hilditch, 13, who had a most successful meet, producing PBs in all but one race. In his first competition south, he got underway by knocking a massive 10 seconds off his 200m IM for a 3.04.25 and then a took second off his 100m breaststroke to finish 10^th. In the 100m freestyle he smashed his entry time by 3 seconds with a 1.12.25 to finish 6^th overall. The afternoon session saw him achieving his fourth PB in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1.31.11.

In the Girls 12/13 age group, Vhairi Davies, 12, swam 100m in each stroke, finishing close to entry time in backstroke and fly, but gaining a PB in freestyle with a 1.18.24 and with a 1.44.20 made a very good 4 second improvement in Breaststroke. Cara Steven, 12, swam extremely well in her three races. Two seconds were knocked off her breaststroke for a 1.37.19 and she then lowered her freestyle time by a brilliant 5 seconds with a 1.18.69, and backstroke by over 4 seconds with a 1.29.27.

In the Girls 14/16 age group, Morven Davies, 14, achieved very good PBs as well. Both her events showed a similar improvement with 3 seconds drop on her entry times for a 1.16.67 in freestyle and 1.34.77 in backstroke.

Kirsty Laurenson, 15, swam every event in the meet. She was within a second of entry time in backstroke, where she came 8th and her 100m IM was also just outside her time. Her highest place was achieved in the 100m freestyle where a time of 1.09.89 was only a 1/100 of a second away from her very recent PB and earned her 5^th place.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank, Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy and Northlink for their support.

North District Age Group Championships, Inverness, 5/6 March 2011

2011-04-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Four weeks after swimming at Inverness, Donnie and Eddie Price were back in the pool representing South Mainland ASC at the North District Age Group Championships and the brothers had a tremendously successful weekend, producing a dozen PBs each, qualifying for every final and returning with handfuls of medals.

Competing in every event in the programme, Donnie, 14, started off with a superb 12 second PB in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2.24.44 and continued producing PBs one after the other, improving times in all but one event.

His first medal came on Saturday morning by winning the 400m freestyle and an excellent 200m breaststroke in a time of 2.38.32 earned him a silver in the afternoon. The evening session began with the 1500m freestyle, with Donnie winning his age group in a new Shetland Age Group record of 17.09.15. With little recovery time he then had to cope with three close together finals, where resulting times, all slower than heats, perhaps demonstrated just what swimming a 1500m takes out of a swimmer.

However, after good night’s rest, times were once again on the way down. Firstly, a PB of 1.06.05 in the 100m backstroke, gave him another Shetland Age Group record. This was followed by a bronze medal winning performance in the 200m freestyle. The morning ended with another distance event, the 800m freestyle earning Donnie his hat-trick of golds for the distance freestyle events. The 400 IM in the afternoon then gave Donnie his final medal of the championships with a silver. The evening session rounded off with a further two good swims in the finals bringing his total number of races to a demanding but successful eighteen.

Meanwhile, Eddie, 12, was collecting medals in all but two events giving him an amazing total of 5 silver and 5 bronze. He started off by achieving a Scottish National Age Group consideration time with a 1.05.47 in the 100m freestyle heat and then smashed his 200m breaststroke and 400m freestyle times to take silver in both. During the afternoon, further PBs in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke earned him bronzes with his 2.42.88 in backstroke being a Scottish Swimming District Regional Programme (DRP) qualifying time. A further PB came in the 100m breaststroke which he broke again in the evening’s final in a 1.28.86 for another third place.

Sunday continued with an equally impressive set of swims. A whopping great 8 second improvement with a 2.50.27 for the 200m butterfly gave him silver and once again lowered his Shetland Age Group record. This was followed with a superbly paced 800m freestyle where he broke the 10minutes with a 9.56.20 for second place. The afternoon session produced a 4 seconds PB in the 100m butterfly, achieving yet another Scottish Age Group time, but it was in the 400m IM that Eddie had a really stunning swim, knocking a massive 16 seconds off a month old PB – but in a tightly fought race he was just out-touched at the finish for 4^th place. Eddie still hadn’t done enough and faced three further finals in the last session. He proceeded to pick up three more medals. In the 200m IM his 2.43.80 was a bronze and was another time for the DRP. The 100 butterfly resulted in 3^rd place and in his last event of the championships, the 100m backstroke he further lowered his PB set in the heat to a 1.15.98 for silver.

Eddie’s most remarkable achievement is that he now has consideration times for every event for next month’s Scottish Age Group Championships.

Edinburgh International, Tollcross, Glasgow, 12/13 February 2011

2011-02-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

Donnie Price, South Mainland ASC, competed in 8 events in the 13/14 age group and the Open 200IM and created a new batch of Long Course PBs, setting further targets for the months to come. Swimming at the high level meet were all the top boys in the country, providing the toughest competition since his last visit to Glasgow. Donnie’s highest place was a fourth in the 200m breaststroke with a 2.46.51.

Other top ten places were achieved in the 200m free (5^th) and the 200m backstroke (7^th) and in making two of the finals for 100’s, he finished in sixth place in the breaststroke. Breaking the minute for long course for the first time in the heat of the 100m freestyle, he was 10^th qualifier for the evening’s final where he then improved his with a 59.75 to move up to 8^th place.

North District Age Group Meet, Inverness, 5-6 February 2011

2011-02-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

This was the meet that so many had looked forward to – having already been a victim of atrocious weather in December, when it was cancelled at the last moment, 11 South Mainland swimmers were due to head to the rescheduled meet at the beginning of February.

Unfortunately, once more, weather played havoc with our intentions of taking the biggest number of swimmers ever to the District meet – for many this was going to be a first time at the event. Ghastly gale force winds prevented the boat from sailing on the Thursday night so in the end only three swimmers decided to opt to fly to Inverness.

The first challenge of the weekend was enduring ‘the worst flight ever’ from Sumburgh to Inverness via Kirkwall – except that the Kirkwall brief stop didn’t happen, and although, to begin with, the plane thought that was where it was going, changed it’s mind within what felt like 10 feet of the ground and whooshed heavenward at the last moment.

Announcements of trying again or having to divert were made, but not back to Sumburgh as it was closed due to the storm and not directly to Inverness as it too was closed, due to flooding. So on we continued, suffering the extremely bumpy trip and landing in Aberdeen an hour and fifty minutes after taking from Sumburgh. Once safe on the ground, while most would happily have got off and caught a bus, train or hitchhiked, we were kept in our seats and once again launched into gale force winds and chucked about up to Inverness.

Despite the dodgiest of starts to the weekend all three swimmers swam extremely well, totalling 28 personal best times and a dozen medals between them.

Competing at the event for his fifth and last time, 14 year old Donnie Price had a fantastic two days, swimming every event in the 13/14 boys age group. Over twelve events he achieved 10 personal best times and 7 medals making him the most successful swimmer from Shetland at the meet. His first medal came in the 100m breaststroke where he gained the bronze with a PB time of 1.14.70 and this was followed later in the day with a tremendous 4 second PB in the 400 IM where with a time of 5.01.70 he won his first gold of the weekend. The 200m breaststroke then produced another brilliant PB and this time he came second. Heading back to the pool on the Sunday provided Donnie with the opportunity to pull off some more great swims, a chance he was not to miss. In the 100m freestyle he gained a good PB, but with a strong field, a 58.29 was only good enough for a sixth place. However, in his second race in the morning, Donnie demonstrated his ever improving race skills in competing in the 1500m freestyle. Unworried by other competitors heading off very fast at the beginning and being ahead in the early stages, he kept it very steady for the first 500m before picking up his pace and pushing well in front of others. Maintaining his lead he finished in 17.13.32, achieving not just gold but also a time required this year for Scottish Youth Development Squad. Sunday afternoon brought a PB in the 200m IM heat and a place in the evening’s final. The 400m freestyle was swam in similar fashion to the 1500m, letting others burn out during the first 100m while holding back a little before increasing the pace and taking over the lead at the half way mark. Another good 4 second PB was produced for another gold medal. In the last session of the meet, Donnie still continued to produce quality swims. In the 200m backstroke he smashed his entry time by 8 seconds with a 2.22.96, achieving a 3^rd place and a new Shetland Age Group record. Ten minutes later came the final of the 200m IM and finishing off his meet in style, Donnie lowered his PB from the afternoon and successfully gained a bronze.

Donnie’s younger brother, Eddie, 12, also swam every race of the meet in the 10-12 years age group and successfully clocked up 12 PBs and 5 medals. The 400m freestyle was his first event, where he broke his target of 5 minutes for the first time with a 4.58.32 to take bronze. After another two PBs during the first session in the 100m butterfly and the 200m backstroke, the afternoon got underway with the tough 400m IM and another good PB of 5.55.30, just missing out on the medals with 4^th place. A tiny PB was then achieved in his 100m freestyle with a 1.07.14, enough to get the silver. Saturday evening started with the 200m butterfly where he swam a very well paced race, and with two lengths to go held on to his lead to win the gold in 2.58.27, lowering his Shetland Age Group record by three seconds. The following day he started by taking six seconds off his 200m breaststroke time and achieved a time for Scottish National Age Groups in April. The 1500m freestyle followed, where Eddie executed his race plan extremely well in maintaining a steady pace and finishing with an extra push in the closing stages. His resulting time of 19.27.83 earned a well deserved silver. His next race was the heat of 200m IM and producing another PB secured a place in the final. The 100m backstroke was another fabulous race, and a good 2 second PB.

The closing session of the competition brought one of the races that Eddie had been most looking forward to, the 200m freestyle where he excelled himself by whacking a huge 7 seconds off his entry time with a 2.20.47 to finish in 3^rd place once again. Shortly after, he completed his events with the final of the 200 IM finishing in 5^th place.

Vhairi Davies, 12, competing in this level of competition for the first time, had a tremendous weekend making excellent PBs in all of her 5 races. Her meet started off by taking 2 seconds off her 100m butterfly followed by 9 seconds from her 200m backstroke. After a break in the afternoon, she faced one of the toughest events in swimming, the 200m butterfly and succeeded in improving her entry time by an incredible 17 seconds to finish in 3.17.30 and a very respectable 12^th place. Equally challenging was the 400m IM that greeted her on Sunday morning and once again Vhairi demolished her entry time by taking 21 seconds off her PB to get a 6.36.24. Her last race brought her yet one more good PB time of 1.24.29 in the 100m backstroke.

Scottish National Short Course Championships - 7-9 January 2011

2011-01-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

A first timer at the championships was Donnie Price representing South Mainland ASC. The 14 year old swam eight races, including all four age group events for 15 and under boys plus four of the Men’s open events. His opening race of the meet was the Men’s 100m butterfly, where as only a reserve had been lucky to have the opportunity to swim and finished within a second of his entry time. The afternoon started off with the Boys’ 400m freestyle and Donnie made his first Pb of 2011.

Day two started with a good swim in the Men’s 100m breaststroke where he finished within a fraction of a second of his Pb. The afternoon’s event was the Boys’1500m freestyle, which he swam at a very steady pace throughout and finished in a Pb time of 17.21.33 and overall 13th position.

On the final day of the competition, Donnie produced his best swims. Once more having only qualified as reserve, he was seeded in the first heat of the Men’s 200m freestyle. At the 100m turn he had gone under the minute and doing his best to hold on to the pace during the second half of the race, finished with a 2 second Pb in a time of 2.05.35. Later he produced another Pb in the Men’s 200m breaststroke with a 2.44.24.

In the last of his races, the Boys’ 400m IM, Donnie produced his biggest Pb of the three days. Showing improvement in all 4 strokes but especially his fly and backstroke, and with an excellent final 50m sprint he finished with a huge 12 second Pb time of 5.05.03.

North District Sprint Championships - 2 October 2010

2010-11-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

South Mainland ASC took 6 of their swimmers to the North District Sprint Championships held at Inverness.

In age 13/14 events, Donnie Price, 14, achieved PBs in each of his 50m races in the heats and qualified for finals in the breaststroke and butterfly where he improved times once more. With a 30.43 he finished 5th in the butterfly, having earlier in the day achieved a bronze medal with a time of 35.18 in the breaststroke. Donnie also swam the open 100m IM and had a tremendous 3 second PB for a 1.07.74.

Karl Eldridge, 14, accomplished four good PBs in his races, with his biggest improvement achieved in the butterfly with 34.09. His younger brother Darin, 13, gained a PB in the two races that he swam, with 31.49 for freestyle and 40.38 in the breaststroke.

South Mainland girls, Sarah Keay, 14, and Kirsty Laurenson, 14, both had good swims. Sarah was very pleased to gain a PB in her breaststroke with 39.94 finishing in 11th place and was satisfied to be on her entry times in her other events. Kirsty also managed a PB with a 31.52 for her freestyle and was within a second of entry times for her fly and backstroke.

In the youngest age group, 10-12 years, Eddie Price, 11, made PBs in every event, and with another year to go in the age groups was delighted to make three finals. He swam a 31.40 for his freestyle to finish 5th, 42.88 in breaststroke for 6th and 37.00 in butterfly for 7th.

The club again wishes to thank Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy & Northlink Ferries for their continued support.

Inverclyde Masters - September 2010

2010-11-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Jan Price, South Mainland ASC, competed at the Inverclyde Masters held at the Waterfront Leisure Centre, Greenock. As always the meet got underway on the Friday evening with the ‘Inverclyde 800’, a mere race of 32 lengths in the 25metre pool. A challenging race for many, it was even tougher this year due to the water temperature more akin to baby pool than competitive swimming. Heat exhaustion is not usually associated with swimming but on this occasion many complained of being uncomfortable after the first few hundred metres, some finding they were having breathing difficulties and a few competitors not finishing. Jan herself felt a bit queasy during the second half of the race but that may have been a residue of a bumpy ferry trip the previous night! Her resulting time however was only 6 seconds outside her entry time set last year, with the 6 seconds being lost in the final 200 metres and she came 2nd overall in the 50 -54 age group.

After a good night’s sleep it was back in the pool early next morning for the start of a further 12 events over the day. The 200m freestyle resulted in her 2nd fastest ever time and a first place in the age group. Other events in the morning finished close on entry times apart from the 200m IM which was a disappointing 6 seconds away from her target. After a refuelling lunch break, the afternoon started with the rather dreaded 100m butterfly, not at all popular with the over 50s, so although her time again was outside entry time, Jan got a first in her age group – due to being the only one brave or daft enough to tackle the event! The remaining races of the day went much as planned, entry times being matched for most swims with a pleasant surprise coming in her 11th race of the day, 100 metre backstroke by finishing 2 seconds inside entry time.

Bridge of Don September Splash & Cult Otters Bibby Offshore Challenge - 4/5 September 2010

2010-11-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

A team of 14 young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club had a terrific weekend participating in two competitions in Aberdeen and amongst them won 2 dozen medals and achieved 3 dozen personal best times. On top of this, one of the youngest swimmers, Sophie Morris, 10, broke 3 Shetland Age Group records out of her six swims over the two days. At the September Splash at the Bridge of Don Pool she took 12 seconds off her 100m breaststroke time and won the silver medal, but it was in the Cults Otters competition at Northfield Pool that she pulled off her record breaking swims with a 1.34.30 in the 100m butterfly taking a silver and a 1.18.70 in the 100m freestyle for the bronze. Earlier she was given the challenge by South Mainland coach Jan Price to get a 3.15 for the 200m IM, and excelled herself by going 3.12.67 for another record and bronze medal. The talented youngster also won the silver for the 400m freestyle and only just missed a medal in the 100m backstroke. Her successful day resulted in being runner up for her age group.

Also swimming in the 8-10 age group was Erraid Davies, 9, South Mainland’s youngest competitor who swam the same races as Sophie. She finished only a fraction of a second behind her in the breaststroke at the Splash to take the bronze and continued this trend the following day with bronzes in the butterfly and the 400m freestyle. She had a further pb in the 100m freestyle and her biggest improvement was an 8 second pb for a 3.18.76 in the 200m IM.

In the boys 400m freestyle, Donnie Price, 14, led from the start and extended his lead throughout the race to take the gold in the 13/14 age group in a pb time of 4.25.77, while younger brother Eddie 11, pushed all the way in his heat by a older boy, took the silver in the 11/12 age group with his pb of 5.04.36. Silver seemed to be the favoured colour for the brothers with Eddie achieving second places in a further 4 events, all in pb times, and Donnie for his 200m IM, 100 free and a tremendous 1.16.38 in the100 breaststroke. Each came runner up in their age group overall.

Kirsty Laurenson, 14, had a very busy two days racing eight events in the 13/14 age group, with 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle being swum on both days. Her fly at Splash earned her a bronze medal while a 3 second pb for a 1.20.54 in the 100m IM gained her silver. She also improved her 100m breaststroke by a superb 3 seconds and the following day, her backstroke by 2 seconds.

In the same age group, Sarah Keay had some great swims at the Splash, starting to regain her form after a long spell out of training due to illness. Her efforts won her gold in the 100m breaststroke with her best time this year, a 1.30.26 and a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Morven Davies, 13, also gained a pb in the 100m breaststroke with a 1.44.80 and broke the 1.20 for the first time in her 100m freestyle with a 1.19.43.

The club had several girls in the 11/12 age group. Vhairi Davies, 12, swam 2 pbs at the Splash in her breaststroke and freestyle and was the only girl in the age group who had a race at the Cults meet. In her one race there, the 100m backstroke, she improved by 2 seconds for a 1.28.69 which should qualify her for the North District Age Group Meet in December. Also gaining district times were Cara Steven, 11, and Curstaidh Mackay, 11. Cara’s best swim was a 1.41.04 for the 100m breaststroke which resulted in the bronze medal. She improved in her 100m freestyle by 2 seconds and had a brilliant 5 second pb with a time of 1.36.82 in the 100m backstroke. Curstaidh swam equal or just a fraction of a second faster than her pbs in her 100 IM, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly, but it was in the 100m freestyle that she pulled out all the stops with a huge 4 second pb for a 1.16.20 resulting in a very well deserved gold.

12 year old Lucy Morris had 2 races at the Splash finishing marginally outside pbs in her freestyle and butterfly. Her twin brother James competed at both competitions. In the first day he successfully took the bronze in the 100m butterfly. At the Cults meet he then had 5 races during the day. He swam close to entry times but managed to achieve a 1 second pb in the 100m freestyle with a 1.14.07. Also gaining pbs for his 100m freestyle was Scott Riise, 12, and he did it twice over the weekend. A 1.17.08 at the Splash was a 1 second improvement on his pb and gained him silver medal. He then smashed this time the following day reducing it to 1.15.42. Scott also made a good pb in his 100m breaststroke at the Splash and also swam the 100m backstroke on the Sunday at the Cults meet. Big brother Jason, 14 competed in all 5 races at the Splash meet. His best race was his 100m backstroke where he dropped his time to 1.31.19 while his other times were close to entry times.

At the end of the weekend the tally was 3 golds, 12 silver and 9 bronze. Due to allocating of points to the top 10 swimmers in each event at the Cults meet, South Mainland ASC, one of the smallest clubs in the district, were proud to finish in 5th club place overall.

South Mainland would like to thank the following for their support; Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy and Northlink.

Scottish National Open Championships - June 2010

2010-11-07T06:17:00.001-08:00

South Mainland’s Donnie Price, 13, competing in the championships for the first time, swam 9 events spread over four days at the Championships in the Boys 16 and under age group and successfully managed to produce PBs in all but two races. As well as improving times in nearly all his swims he moved up the rankings from his seeded position in the heats. A two second improvement in his 200m freestyle, and a time of 2.09.29, placed him in the top third of the field of 125 competitors. In another event with over 100 competitors, the 200m IM, he again took off over 2 seconds and leapt up 30 places to finish in the top half. His highest finishing position in the age group events was 31st out of 74 swimmers in the 200m Breaststroke with a very good 4 second PB of 2.50.83.

Donnie also qualified for one open event as the youngest competitor in the 1500m freestyle. Using experience gained in previous races in recent months, he swam the second half of the race faster than the first half finishing it off with a very strong final hundred resulting in an excellent 8 seconds PB with a time of 17.47.23.

North District Open Championships, Westhill - 5/6 June 2010

2010-11-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Donnie Price, 13, South Mainland ASC, swam 11 events over the weekend. As a first-timer and amongst the youngest of male swimmers to qualify for the competition, he started off with a 2 second PB in the 200m IM. This was followed by another PB in the 400free where he came 17th out of 37 competitors. A further 2 PBs were gained in the afternoon by taking an excellent 8 seconds of his 200m butterfly and 6 seconds in the 200m breaststroke, where he came a remarkable 12th overall. The first day finished with breaking 1minute for the 100m freestyle for the first time with a 59.63.

Sunday started with a good swim in the 100m butterfly, scraping a fraction of a second off his PB. Mid morning was the 1500m freestyle, where once again Donnie paced it very well to finish with a new PB and overall 5th place. Only 20 minutes later and without a chance to fully recover, he was one of only three of the 1500m swimmers who opted to race the 200m backstroke, and like the other two he finished just outside entry time. In the afternoon session, Donnie produced another hat-trick of PBs with improvements in his 200m freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 400m IM.

Head to Head - May 2010

2010-05-17T15:51:00.001-07:00

City of Glasgow Open Meet - 1-2 May 2010

2010-05-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Donnie and Eddie Price, swimming for South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club competed at the City of Glasgow Open Meet last weekend at Tollcross Pool, Glasgow.

Returning to this venue only three weeks after his successes at the Scottish Age Groups, Donnie, 13, did remarkably well to improve on his times in the 7 events swum then and also broke best times in a further 2 races. In the shorter 100metre distances tiny fractions of a second were chipped off his previous best times in freestyle and butterfly, his breaststroke just under a second, and 1.3 seconds in his backstroke. In the 200 metres backstroke, a race that he hadn’t swum since February, he gained a 7 second Pb, while in the 200m breaststroke he was thrilled to improve his time by 5 seconds for a 2.54.26 and, as the fastest 13year old, finish in 4th place in the 13/14 year age group. In the mid distance 400m freestyle, he dropped his time by 3 seconds and again came top amongst the 13year olds with 7th place.

Becoming recognised as a very good distance swimmer, Donnie had his best result of the weekend in the 1500m freestyle. Seeded in the first heat, while some lads started off at a fast pace, Donnie started at a slightly slower pace but by 300metres had settled in to a rate that he was able to maintain. He started overtaking then increasing his distance ahead of the all the other competitors and by the final third of the race he was well in front. Touching first in the heat, in 17.55.19, he had knocked an incredible 13 seconds off his 3 week old previous best time, and had achieved his target of gaining a Scottish National Open time. This was also his highest placed event, winning bronze behind two14year olds.

For younger brother Eddie, 11, the competition was only the second occasion competing in a 50metre pool, having only swum a single length race at the Scottish Schools. This meant that each of his 9 races would be a long course personal best. He set out to match or improve all his entry times, which were conversions of short course times.

He achieved his aim in all but 2 races, but in one of these, the 200m breaststroke, his time of 3.22.47 was still extremely good and, like big brother Donnie, he came 4th – and the fastest 11 year old in the 9-12 year age group. Eddie coped excellently with the challenge of long course butterfly by slicing a huge 6 seconds off his time for a 1.26.76 to come 8th. Another challenge was racing the 800m freestyle, having only ever raced this distance once before, but again he went well under his time by 15 seconds to finish 9th in a time of 10.56.18. In his last race of the weekend he had another brilliant freestyle race in the 400m where he smashed his entry time by 10seconds to round off a most successful long course meet.

Inverness Graded Meet - 1st May 2010

2010-05-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Thirteen year old Morven Davies had a very good day of competition as the only South Mainland swimmer competing at this year’s Inverness Graded Meet.

In her first race in the girls 13/14 years age group, Morven took almost 3 seconds of her entry time in the 100m breaststroke to finish in 5th place with a 1.45.15. Following this, she knocked 2 seconds off in the 100m IM with a 1.33.70, and in a very tight race came 7th – which was only 1 second behind the swimmer who took the bronze. The morning’s schedule finished with another 3 second PB with a time of 1.36.98 in the 100m backstroke.

The afternoon started with the 100m butterfly, a challenging event for Morven. A huge PB was gained with her time of 1.50.33.

The last event, the 100m freestyle resulted in her biggest success of the day, by taking the gold with a time of 1.20.08, an excellent 4 seconds better than her previous best.

A full quota of PBs was gained during the day showing all round improvement.

Scottish Masters Short Course Championships, Tollcross, Glasgow - April 2010

2010-05-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Jan Price, representing South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club, competed at the Scottish Masters Short Course Championships. Her fourth time at this meet, she increased the number of events entered to 12, spread over Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon and duly discovered that this was the most number of events swam by anyone in the women’s 50-54 year age group. Despite having little rest between races she successfully managed to slightly better her 2009 times in all but 3 races and came 2nd in 8 events and 3rd in a further 2. However it was in a race where she only managed 4th place that she had undoubtedly her best race. In the last session was the 400 freestyle where she was in the lane next to Carolyn Swanson from Thurso who had a similar entry time. Jan went out faster and by the 300 metres had a 2 metre lead. Carolyn had held back in the early stages and was more able to put in a really fast final 100m and by the last turn had closed the gap. The last length was an all out sprint finish by both, resulting in Jan being beaten by a finger tip 0.08sec, but was delighted to make a Pb as did Carolyn. Both are looking forward to a re-match next year.

As well as having a great time in her own swimming, the competition always provides Jan the chance to chat to and watch other Masters swimmers, some who are new to the sport, others who have been competing for decades, but very many, like herself returning to competitive swimming after many years away from the sport. One such swimmer, that Jan took the opportunity to talk to was 50 year old Judy Hattle, who swam up to the age of 20, then returned to competing after having a family. Little did Jan know that just 15 minutes after their chat, she was to witness Judy setting a new WORLD record in the 200m butterfly – certainly THE highlight of the championships.

As in previous years, Jan opted to substitute receiving medals for a donation of £1 per medal to this year’s nominated charity Macmillan Cancer Support.

Scottish National Age Group Championships, Tollcross, Glasgow, 8-11 April 2010

2010-04-18T03:21:00.000-07:00

Donnie Price, representing South Mainland ASC, swam 11 events in the boys’ 13 year age group and had a most successful championships, returning home with a gold medal as Scottish Champion in one event and silver and bronze medals for a further two.

On day one of the 4 day competition, he headed off with a great start. Qualifying for the first time for the 200m butterfly, he managed to knock 10 seconds off his long course time to finish in 17th place with a time of 2.47.99.

This was followed by a Pb in the heats of the 100m freestyle. His time of 1.01.84 gave him 8th ranked place for the final, which he then improved to 5th when again he had a Pb to bring his time down to1.01.20.

Taking place in the afternoon of the first day was the event at the other end of the range; the 1500m freestyle. Donnie had an amazing swim and, with an 18.08.65, won the event and was awarded the Scottish Age Group Champion title, repeating last year’s success.

Day two brought more chances to gain long course Pbs, and again started very well with an excellent 100m butterfly. His time of 1.10.98 gave him 13th place. In the afternoon it was the 400m IM. A tough race in a 50m pool, this was Donnie’s first ever experience of the event long course and he was extremely pleased to swim a 5.28.89 and achieve 12th place.

The third day started with Donnie producing another Pb in the 100m breaststroke; with a 1.23.60 he came 12th, a reserve for the final. In the 200m IM he had another well paced swim to finish in 2.34.96, once more a Pb and 13th place. In the afternoon session, Donnie raced a superb 400m freestyle, and with a time of 4.37.80 won his second medal, the bronze.

Sunday, the last day of the competition, started with the 200m freestyle. Aiming to make the final, Donnie produced a Pb time of 2.13.67, comfortably gaining a place in the final. In next race, the 200 breaststroke, he managed to meet his target of breaking 3 minutes. However he was disappointed that his time of 2.59.49 meant 12th place, again reserve finalist, knowing that only half a second faster would have given him the desired place.

In the afternoon session, Donnie faced his last distance event, the 800m freestyle. In a heat with 14 year olds pushing him all the way, he finished well inside his entry time in a 9.28.63. At that point he was fastest 13year old and with only 2 more swimmers his age left to swim, he was guaranteed a medal. Only the outstanding Jordan Hughes of North Ayrshire finished faster, so Donnie won silver, bringing his medal tally to one of each colour.

One last race remained in the evening’s finals. Although he had made a Pb in the morning heats, Donnie knew that with slightly different pacing he could better his time. He had a brilliant race and improved his time by a further 1.5 seconds to finish in 5th place with a 2.12.08.

Dyce Hunting Trophy Meet, Westhill, March 2010

2010-04-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

South Mainland ASC took nine of their swimmers to compete in the Dyce Hunting Trophy Meet at Westhill last weekend giving them all the opportunity to race in 100m events in their age groups. A great number of personal best times were achieved and two of the team brought home medals.

Scott Riise, 11, swimming in his first competition south for a year, was last of the South Mainland swimmers to race in the morning, but was first to win a medal, by taking bronze in the boys 10/11 years 100m backstroke with an excellent 5 seconds pb of 1.28.12. In the afternoon session, he then won gold in the 100m freestyle with another pb time of 1.18.09 and finished his successful day with the 100m breaststroke where he equalled his pb.

James Morris,12, swam all 4 races in the 12/13 year age group, but started his busy day competing in the Open 200m IM, which he swam extremely well for a 7 second pb of 3.03.84. His best swim of the day was in the 100m backstroke where he had a brilliant 3 second improvement on his time, finishing in silver place with a 1.21.37. James also gained pbs in the 100m freestyle with 1.15.06 and the breaststroke with 1.39.09. His time for the butterfly was on pb pace.

Jason Riise, 13, also swam 5 events. In the open 100m IM he had a pb of 1.28.32. In his age group events he managed a further 3 pbs which included a tremendous 6 seconds off his entry time with a 1.13.40 for the freestyle and a most impressive 7 second improvement in breaststroke with a 1.31.46. In both these events he came 5th.

Lucy Morris, 12, swam two events in the 12/13 year girls. Her backstroke was on her pb and she had a super 5 second pb in freestyle with a time of 1.21.60.

Four of the South Mainland girls competed in the 10/11 year age group. Vhairi Davies, 11 had a chunky 5 seconds pb for a 1.30.83 in the backstroke where she came 4th, only missing out on a medal by less than a second. Her breaststroke was also a good 3 second pb with 1.50.48, and both freestyle and butterfly finished on entry times.

Curstaidh Mackay, 11, got off to a fantastic start to the day in the 100m butterfly. Seeded only as reserve, but given the chance to swim, she dropped her entry time by 13 seconds to finish in a 1.48.43. In backstroke and breaststroke, her times were just outside entry times, but another fabulous pb was achieved by knocking almost 7 seconds off her freestyle with a 1.20.07.

Cara Steven, 11, competing south for the first time in two years, also had a good pb in her freestyle, improving on her time by 3 seconds for a 1.25.48, with her swims in breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly close to entry times.

Ten year old Sophie Morris, swimming for the first time south at this level of competition, had brilliant swims in all three of her races. Her butterfly resulted in an excellent 1.37.01 to finish well up the rankings in 6th place. In backstroke, too, she finished 6th with a pb of 1.32.40 and then finished off her day with a massive 6 second pb in the freestyle for a 1.21.48.

Youngest of the SMASC swimmers was Erraid Davies, 9, who swam two races in the 9 year age group. Her breaststroke showed good improvement with a 3 second pb for a 1.53.74 and a 5th place, and her backstroke was also swam well.

The club would like to thank Northlink and Mainlands for their support.

Shetland Sprints, 21 March 2010

2010-04-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday 21st March was a very busy swimming day for nearly all South Mainland swimmers age 11 and over, who took part in the Shetland Sprints at the Clickimin.

For several swimmers this was their first outing to the event, and along with those who have had more experience, had a very successful day, at the end of which at least 64 personal best times had been achieved by the team of 15.

In the boys age groups, South Mainland took two of the champion titles – Darin Eldridge, 12, in the 11/12 years, achieving 4 pbs while winning all five races, and Donnie Price,13, for the 13/14 age group, winning 4golds and 1 silver – all pbs.

Other medallists in individual races were;

Eddie Price, 11, silver in fly, breaststroke, IM & bronze in free.

James Morris, bronze in backstroke.

Karl Eldridge, silver in breaststroke and bronze in fly, back & IM.

Vhairi Davies, 11, bronze in backstroke.

Kirsty Laurenson, 14, silver in breaststroke.

Jan Price, 51, was also awarded for her efforts – bronze in each race – due to there only being 3 swimmers in the age group.

Every swimmer achieved something on the day – here’s a list, nowhere near complete, but a mention of some highlights;

Curstaidh Mackay, 11, – a superb 9 second pb for IM & tremendous last leg of the relay.

Cara Steven, 11, – 2 seconds off backstroke time and gigantic 24 seconds off her IM.

Vhairi Davies, 11, – Bronze in backstroke with a good pb & 3 seconds improvement in fly.

Lucy Morris, 12, – Breaststroke – brilliant 4 seconds pb, & 5 seconds for the IM

Morven Davies, 13, - Demonstrating she can swim fly with an 8 second pb, & 7 sec pb for her IM.

Kirsty Laurenson, 14, – Making pbs only weeks after recent competition & winning silver in her least favourite stroke, breaststroke

Jan Price, 51, - getting a 0.12 pb for Breaststroke and not getting caught by big Callum in the freestyle relay.

Eddie Price, 11, - 7 second pb in IM. Runner up in age group. Fabulous freestyle leg of medley relay.

Scott Riise, 11, - Pbs in 4 out of 5 races.

James Morris, 12, - Pb every time he hit the water. Bronze in backstroke.

Philip Hilditch, 12, - Having a super first time with immense pbs such as 16seconds off breaststroke.

Darin Eldrige, 12, - Getting the champion title – what else is there?!

Jason Riise, 13, - Five out of five for pbs – with a 4 second pb for IM

Donnie Price, 13, - Swimming in lane 6 for each event against the big guys. 5/5 pbs including 4 seconds off IM.

Karl Eldridge, 14, - Pbs all day long – fantastic drop in time for breaststroke.

Nathan Hilditch, 15, - Incredible improvements in all strokes – whacking 16 seconds off backstroke, 13 off breaststroke and 10second in free for a very respectable time.

Many of the swimmers also took part in the relays, and for some this was the first time in the Clickimin, having only done them at Beta League. The boys 13 & under had two terrific races against Delting but were just out-touched by the tiniest of margins in both events. In the girls 13& under, South Mainland was a young team with more 11 year olds than the stronger teams from other clubs, but to their credit and a marvellous last leg by Curstaidh Mackay, came 3rd in the freestyle relay.

For the first time, the gala had mixed relays for the 14 years and over, and the SMASC team comprised of ALL of their swimmers in this age group – Kirsty, Karl, Nathan and Jan were up against Delting and Lerwick who both had several Shetland record holders past and present in their teams. In both the races, Jan, as the 3rd swimmer had the additional challenge of trying hard to ensure that we wouldn’t be lapped –and succeeded – just! The next challenge was all trying to fit on the podium to collect the medals.

Forres Meet, 13-14 March 2010

2010-04-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Two South Mainland ASC swimmers attended the Forres Meet.

Darin Eldridge, 12, had a successful weekend achieving 3 personal bests and winning 2 bronze medals. His first medal was in the 100m breaststroke where he took almost a second off his pb with a time of 1:31.06. Then in the freestyle he swam a closely fought race to come 3rd equal in a time just a touch away from a pb. A time of 1.20.66 was a good 2 seconds pb for his 100m backstroke and another pb came in the IM where he lowered his time to 1:20.66. In the 100m butterfly Darin swam close to entry time.

Karl Eldridge, 14, also had a very good weekend gaining pbs in 4 out of 5 races. In the 100m butterfly he took an excellent 4 seconds off his entry time with a 1:22.83. In the breaststroke he finished with a time of 1:26.58, a 2 sec pb. Again in the 100 IM he got a 2 sec pb with a 1:19.09. In the 100m backstroke he got a 1:18.67 giving him a 2 sec pb and in the 100 free he swam a 1:08.98, only just outside his pb.

North District Age Group Championships, Inverness, 6-7 March 2010

2010-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

South Mainland ASC was represented at the North District Age Group championships by brothers Donnie and Eddie Price. Donnie, 13, swam 11 events in the 13/14 age group, and successfully broke pb times for every event. His weekend started off with a super 6 second improvement in his 200m butterfly with a 2.44.00. In his next race, the 100m freestyle, he crept nearer to breaking the 1 minute mark with a 1.00.79.

After another pb in the 200m IM, Donnie then produced an excellent 4.33.58 for the 400m freestyle and sixth place, the fastest of the 13 year old boys. The afternoon’s results were a satisfying 1.10.12 for his 100m butterfly followed shortly later with a 2.56.88 for the 200m breaststroke. In the last session of the day, Donnie had a terrific swim in the 1500m freestyle. Aiming to break 18 minutes he smashed 24 seconds off his entry time for a 17.43.12, which earned him the silver medal.

Sunday’s events started with a 2.10.63 for the 200m freestyle. Then in the 800m freestyle he swam very well to finish in 9.23.77, only missing out on third place by a mere 0.19 seconds. Donnie’s last session produced a pb in the 100m breaststroke and a chunky 7 seconds improvement in his time for the 400m IM.

Eddie, 11, swam 3 events in the 10-12 year age group. His competition got off to a great start by taking 3 seconds off his 100m freestyle time with a 1.08.97, and gained him a place in the final, where he moved up one place to finish 7th. Eddie was also 7th in the 200m freestyle where he swam 7 seconds faster than his entry time for a new pb of 2.27.51. In the 200 breaststroke Eddie had another tremendous swim with a 3.18.13 finishing in 5th place.

Shetland Junior Age Group Championships - February 2010

2010-03-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

The Shetland Junior Age Group Championships was a great success for the youngest of the South Mainland swimmers, with the trophies for the top girl and boy in the 8 years and younger going to Erraid Davies and Seumas Mackay. Both won all 4 of their 25m races, and they also achieved first place in the 9 & under 50m freestyle events. Nine more youngsters took part in the gala, some winning medals, and all having super swims.

Competing in the Girls eight and under age group were Jasmin Smith, Kirsten Keay, Sarah-Marie Riise and Ruth Morris. Jasmin won the silver medal in the breaststroke and bronze in the butterfly. She came 4th in the backstroke, 5th in freestyle and 8th in the 50m freestyle. Kirsten also won 2 medals, a silver for butterfly, bronze for breaststroke and came 6th in freestyle and 8th in backstroke, with a very good 5th for her 50m freestyle.

Sarah-Marie was just below medal places with 4th in butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle and a 5th in backstroke. In the 50m freestyle she came 9th. Ruth swam good races to come 5th in the butterfly, 6th in backstroke and 7th in breaststroke and freestyle with a 10th place for the 50 freestyle.

Sophie Black swam in the 9 year age group and came home with a silver medal in butterfly and bronzes for backstroke and freestyle, and just missed a medal with her 4th place finish in breaststroke. She finished 6th in the 50 m freestyle.

In the 10year age group, Sophie Morris had a very good day. Swimming 50m in all her races, she produced excellent times to gain silver medals in the butterfly and backstroke, and made bronze for the freestyle. In the breaststroke she came 5th.

Rachel Keay also swam in this age group. Having only recently returned to the pool due to injury, she too produced good swims in the 50m events with a 6th place in the backstroke and 7th in breaststroke and 11th in the freestyle.

The youngest of the boys competing for South Mainland was Dylan Black. He won silver medals in the backstroke and the freestyle came 4th in breaststroke. Bobby Laurenson was also a medallist. In the 9 year age group he won silver for breaststroke and bronze for the butterfly and came 4th in the backstroke and freestyle with 5th place in the 9 and under 50m freestyle.

All swimmers were a credit to the club, their coaches and their parents.

Elgin Spring Meet, Buckie Pool - 20-21 February 2010

2010-03-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

Two South Mainland ASC swimmers attended the Elgin Spring Meet, at Buckie Pool.

Eddie Price, 11, had a tremendous weekend breaking PBs and winning medals in each event in the 10-11 year age group, and finishing overall runner up to Aberdeen Dolphin, Jack Watson.

In the 50 metre races, he took 4 seconds off his entry time in the breaststroke with 43.07 and came first. In the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle he came 3rd in each very closely fought race. However, it was in the longer distance, 200m races, that Eddie really shone. In the backstroke he took a huge 8 seconds off his time for a 2.53.96, and finished fourth. In the breaststroke there was a 4 second improvement for a 3.20.69, a clear 9seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Again in the freestyle, he was the clear winner with a 2.31.63. But his most remarkable swim came in the tough 200m butterfly, taking 2nd place by knocking an astounding 38 seconds off his time to finish in 3.13.42, only one second behind the winner.

Eddie also swam in the open 400m freestyle as the youngest competitor and successfully chopped 9 seconds off his time to touch in 5.16.96.

Kirsty Laurenson, 13, swam well in her 8 races over the weekend. She finished close to entry times for her 200m freestyle and backstroke and in the butterfly she finished in 7th position. The 50m sprints in these strokes gave her more success. In an event that saw four Shetland girls in the top 7, she swam a great 50m freestyle to win her heat in 31.98 which earned her 7th place. A 2 second improvement was achieved in her backstroke with a 37.59. Kirsty’s highest place and a well deserved 4th place medal was awarded for a 2 second PB in the 50m butterfly in 34.55.

Edinburgh International on Tour, Tollcross Pool, Glasgow, 13-14 February 2010

2010-03-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

Representing South Mainland ASC, Donnie Price,13, gained valuable long course experience swimming 8 events in the boys 13-14 year age group. On the Saturday, he started off the weekend with a long course PB in the 100m backstroke and followed this by another long course PB for 200m breaststroke. Following this trend he completed the afternoon with a further 2 PBs for the 200m backstroke and a 1.24.79 in the 100m breaststroke gave him a time eligible to enter the Scottish Age Groups in April.

More successful swims were accomplished on Sunday with races in freestyle and butterfly. A good, strong swim in the 100m fly resulted in a PB of 1.12.14 gaining him his second Scottish Age Group time. In the 100m freestyle he swam a 1.02.21 and in the 200m freestyle a 2.14.91, both events breaking PB times set a fortnight earlier in the same pool. Finally, tackling the challenge of long course 200m butterfly for the first time since last year, Donnie finished with substantial improvement in time.

SMASC Members Recieving a Cheque from SolutionX - December 2009

2010-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Shetland Senior Age Group Championships - November 2009

2010-03-20T15:50:00.001-07:00

Buckie Mini Meet - 14th November 2009

2010-03-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Eight-year-old Erraid Davies recently travelled south to compete in the Buckie Mini Meet and was delighted to return home with a medal from each of her 25 metre races.

The lively one-day event attracted many swimmers aged 8 – 11 from across the North District.

In her first race of the day, 25m backstroke, Erraid gained a bronze with a PB of 21.12. She followed with a gold, with a time of 19.15 in her favourite stroke, the butterfly.

Later came a silver place and another PB of 24.18 in the breaststroke and finally silver in the freestyle in a time equalling her PB with 18.15.

Her results meant she came second overall in the 8 year girls.

Erraid was given funding for her trip from the Callum Younger Reach Fund.

North District Sprint Championships, Inverness - 3rd October 2009

2010-03-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Three swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club qualified for the North District Sprint Championships.

Competing in all four events in the 10-12 year age group, 12 year old Darin Eldridge had a very good day which started with a PB of 32.55 in the 50m freestyle. He swam well in his second race of the morning, the 50m butterfly, and returned after lunch to PB his 50m breaststroke with a time of 42.42 which earned him a place in the final as eighth fastest qualifier. Before the final, he swam the 50m backstroke and touched on his PB. To finish off his day, Darin had a super swim in the breaststroke final and produced another PB of 42.01 to finish in 7th place.

In the 13-14 year age group, Sarah Keay swam the same events as Darin and like him broke PBs for two of her strokes and was on her PBs for the other two. She improved her freestyle to finish in 31.31, and shaved a fraction off her breaststroke time for a 40.03 which resulted in 11th place - her highest place of the day.

Donnie Price, 13, swam in this age group, and also had qualified for the open 100m Individual Medley. He successfully managed to produce PBs in all 5 events. His biggest improvement was a 2sec PB time of 37.81 for 50m breaststroke and his highest place for the day was 10th in butterfly with a 32.22.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank Mainlands, Northlink and Freefield Pharmacy for their support.

Shetland Junior Sprints - September 2009

2010-03-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Marc's Medley - September 2009

2010-03-20T15:42:00.001-07:00

Inverclyde Masters, Greenock - 11-12 September 2009

2010-03-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

At the recent Inverclyde Masters Swimming Meet, held at the Waterside Leisure Centre, Greenock, Jan Price swam an extremely busy schedule of 13 events. Representing South Mainland, Jan was one of a very small number of women competing in the 50-54 age band.

As such, placings were fairly irrelevant, while more significant was the target of matching times she swam in the competition when she previously took part in 2007. Her first event was the 800metres freestyle on the Friday evening. Pacing was excellent throughout, and with enough energy left to finish with a fast final 50 metres, she touched in 12.13.11, a new personal best time and a chunky 10 seconds faster than in 2007.

Saturday’s programme started at 9am with the 200m freestyle, which resulted in a 5 second PB. For the rest of the day it was one race after another, a mixture of 50m and 100m races in each stroke plus 200m breaststroke and Jan’s favourite event the 200m Individual Medley which she swam close to her PB time and 4 seconds faster than 2 years ago.

With little recovery time between races, some events were particularly tough going; the last length of the 100m butterfly was a near death experience and her one time strongest event, the 200m breaststroke was swam in survival mode. By 5pm even the normally easy 100m IM, the very last event, was unusually painful!

Despite this, and although no more personal best times were achieved during the day another 4 races; 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle resulted in times a touch faster than 2007.

Bridge of Don September Splash and Cults Otter Meets - 5-6 September 2009

2010-03-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Nine young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club participated in two recent competitions in Aberdeen. At the Bridge of Don September Splash, all competed in at least one event and amongst them achieved 17 personal best times.

In the Open 100m Individual Medley eldest of the girls, Sarah Keay (13) took 3 seconds off her PB with a 1.21.82 and finished 5th. Competing in the 13/14 year age group she gained higher place results with bronze for both the 100m backstroke with a 1.24.36 PB and the 100m butterfly. In a tremendous race she won the 100m freestyle in 1.09.77.

Vhairi Davies (11) produced three excellent PBs with a 1.35.03 in the Open 100m IM, and in the 11/12 year girls age group she swam 1.53.76 in 100m breaststroke, and 1.26.02 in 100m freestyle. Morven Davies (12) swam just outside her best with 1.24.69 in the 100m freestyle.

The youngest of the Davies sisters, eight year old Erraid had a very successful day, swimming in the 8-10 years age group. She won the 100m freestyle in 1.26.10, and came 3rd in 100m butterfly with an excellent time for her age 1.50.89. She also improved her 100m breaststroke time by 4 seconds.

Eldest of the boys, 13 year old Karl Eldridge, had a very good day, producing PBs in all of his 4 races. In the Open 100m Individual Medley he came 13th in 1.22.22. In the 13/14 age group, he came 5th in the 100m butterfly in 1.28.80, and took half a second off his 100m freestyle with 1.12.36. His best result came with a huge 5 second improvement in 100m breaststroke in 1.30.16 and a fourth place finish.

James Morris (11) also swam the Open 100m IM and gained a PB with 1.33.06. In the 11/12 age group he came 5th in the 100m breaststroke and was thrilled with a silver place in the 100m butterfly.

Three other South Mainland boys competed in the Open 100m IM, and all had a PB, Eddie Price (10) swam 1.30.44, Darin Eldridge (12) swam 1.23.00, and Donnie Price (13) with a 1.14.17 finished 4th out of 48 swimmers.

Having only one swim on the Saturday, this threesome had a far more demanding Sunday, each having qualified for all 6 races in the Cults Otter Bibby Challenge, at Northfield Pool. First in the pool was Eddie in the 400m freestyle, which he swam well and achieved 1st place in the 8-10 age group. In the 200m Individual Medley he equalled his PB and came second, but saved his best for his last race of the day when he won the100m freestyle and lowered his time by a second to 1.14.82, a new Shetland 10 year and under age group record.

Darin gained a 3 second PB in the 400m freestyle with a 5.17.14, and took a fraction of a second off his 100m backstroke in 1.24.56. He had 4 more good swims, all touching within a second of PBs. Donnie, although not on his best form on the day, still managed to pull off times close to his PBs. James Morris had one swim at the meet, the 100m freestyle and took a second off his PB finishing in 1.16.84.

One of the girls, Erraid competed at Sunday’s meet. As youngest girl competitor in the 8-10 year age group, took 2 seconds off her 100m backstroke PB for a 1.41.87 and finished her weekend with a good 100m freestyle.

South Mainland Asc would like to thank the following for their support; Mainlands, Freefield Pharmacy, Broonies Taing Pier Trust , Shetland Office Supplies, Dunrossness Community Council and NorthLink Ferries.

Fins Graded Meet, Kircaldy - 22-23 August 2009

2010-03-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

Three members of South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club competed at the two day Fins Graded Meet in Kirkcaldy, Fife on 22nd and 23rd August 2009.

Erraid (8), Vhairi (11) and Morven (12) Davies were keen to swim at a meet where all three could participate. The gala was a huge success and a lot of fun; between them they qualified for 23 events and achieved 13 personal best times.

Vhairi swam all 9 events in her age group (11 years and under), which was a tough schedule. On the first morning, Vhairi swam in the 50m butterfly (pb 44.29), 100 IM (pb 1.38.50) and 50m backstroke (pb 43.72). She was shocked to find herself in the 50m backstroke final! It was a highly charged event but she raced through the water to come 4th overall (31 girls swam in this event) lowering her earlier pb to a superb 42.48.

In the afternoon Vhairi swam one of her favourite events, the 100m butterfly. Touching in 1.45.11, she once more qualified for the final, which resulted in another excellent pb of 1.42.53 and 6th place. After her successes on Saturday, Vhairi went on to gain further pbs in all of Sunday’s events. Her best result was in the 100m freestyle where she lowered her entry time by 6 seconds to get a new pb of 1.24.69. To finish her perfect tally of pbs her other times were in the 100m back (1.35.49), 50m free (38.71) and 100m breaststroke (1.57.25).

Erraid qualified for 7 events in the 11years and under age group and although reserve for the 100m breaststroke, was able to swim, improving her entry time by 4 seconds for a pb of 2.04.28. Erraid also got a pb in the 100m free; 1.30.16 a 3 seconds improvement. She swam close to her previous pb times in 50m free (39.62), 100m backstroke (1.44.75), 50m breaststroke (58.06) and 50m backstroke (47.26).

Morven was delighted to qualify for five events at the meet and like her youngest sister had held a reserve position for an event, the 50m freestyle. Also, like her sister, being able to swim it allowed her to obtain a pb time of 38.91. In the 50m backstroke (47.11) and the 50m breaststroke (47.13) Morven swam just outside her pb times, which was a good, result for her in the 12-13 year old age group. Morven also swam in the 100m breaststroke, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke.

Attending the Fins Gala in Fife was a memorable event where all three sisters achieved significantly and were delighted at their own and each other’s success. They now look forward to further training and to have new opportunities to compete both in Shetland and south.

Westray Swimming Club Friendly Gala - June 2009

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InCAS Distance Meet, Glenrothes - June 2009

2010-03-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Swimmers representing three Shetland clubs competed at the InCAS Distance Meet held in Glenrothes where medals and awards were presented to the top 6 swimmers in each event.

For South Mainland ASC brothers Donnie & Eddie Price it was a very successful meet. The weekend provided older brother Donnie with his last chance to break Shetland Records in the 11/12 year age group before his 13th birthday at the end of the month and he achieved this in 5 out of 7 races, and won medals in all but 1 event.

On day 1 of the competition, in the 1500 metre freestyle, he smashed his own PB and Shetland record and set a meet record with a gold winning time of 18.16.53. With very little time to recover from the 1500m, 20 minutes later he swam the 200m Individual Medley in a time just outside his best. Earlier in the day he had taken off 6 seconds from his 200m breaststroke PB and finished 4th in 2.59.84, and another DRP qualifying time.

Sunday’s first race for Donnie was the 200m freestyle and once again he achieved a PB finishing in 2.15.28 to take silver. In the 400m IM he improved his PB by a chunky 12 seconds, finishing in 5.34.48 and in 6th place. In his final race, the 400m freestyle, Donnie once again had an outstanding race, lowered his Shetland age group record time to 4.41.43, and again finished in silver position.

10 year old Eddie had a tremendous weekend too, starting with the 200m breaststroke where he knocked 13 seconds off his entry time with a 3.36.53 which earned him 2nd place. Seeded only as reserve in the 200m IM he was delighted to be given the chance to compete. With a superb swim through all four strokes, he finished in 4th place in 3.12.57, a 10second PB and a clear 2 seconds inside the DRP target time.

The second day of competition resulted in Eddie breaking Shetland records in the 10 years and under age group in all three of his events. In a brilliant race in the 200m freestyle he lowered his previously set record to 2.40.15 and gained a bronze medal. In his next race, the 200m backstroke, he swam a very well-paced race finishing in a time of 3.03.59. Finally in the 400m freestyle, he swam a phenomenal 38 seconds faster than his entry time producing a 5.32.59 and took a very well deserved 3rd place. Eddie has now DRP qualifying times for 200m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 200m IM and 400m freestyle.

Presentation of the Beta League Shield - May 2009

2010-03-20T15:05:00.001-07:00

Inverness Graded Meet - May 2009

2010-03-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

South Mainland’s young swimmers brought home a number of medals, speeding tickets and personal best times (pbs) from the Inverness Graded Meet this weekend.

For the boys 10years & under were Edward Oldbury, Christopher Byrne-McCombie, Seumas MacKay & Lewis Tait. Edward had a fabulous start to the meet with a Speeding Ticket in the 50m freestyle (39.62s), followed by a Gold medal in 50m backstroke, a Bronze in 50m butterfly and a superb 12s pb in 100IM. Christopher swam extremely well to take Silver in 50m butterfly (54.01) and had great pbs in 100IM and 50m breaststroke.

The 2 youngest South Mainland swimmers Seumas & Lewis, both 8years, had some great pbs in 50m backstroke & breaststroke with Seumas taking 17s off his breaststroke time and Lewis improving by 5s in backstroke. In 50m freestyle, Seumas again achieved a pb time (45.62) All the boys completed their day by winning Silver in the freestyle relay.

In the girls 10yrs & under events ,9yr old Rachel Keay had a excellent swim in 50m freestyle to take Silver (40.94s). She also had some super pbs in 100IM & 50m breaststroke.

Harriet Bell & Morven Davies, both 12yrs, competed in the 11-12yr age group. In their first event, 100m backstroke, Morven gained a terrific 4th place & Harriet reduced her pb by a superb 12s. In 100m

freestyle, both swam well to get new pbs, with Morven getting a Speeding Ticket for her efforts (1.22.60). Harriet achieved her highest position (6th) in 100m breaststroke and another pb swim in 100IM.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank NorthLink Ferries and Mainlands for their support.

Scottish National Masters Championships, Scotstoun, Glasgow - April 2009

2010-03-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

All colours of medals were won by two Shetland swimmers last weekend at the Scottish National Masters Championships at Scotstoun, Glasgow. Competitors aged 18 – 80 from clubs throughout the UK and Ireland and the now regular visitors from Catalonia, Spain were attracted to this top event for adult swimmers.

On Friday evening, Lynsey Henderson, 26, of Lerwick Amateur Swimming Club gained her first silver medal in the women’s 25-29 years 100m freestyle in a time just outside her entry time. She then came 4th in the 50m butterfly and finished the evening with another silver in the 100m individual medley.

Saturday morning started with the 200m IM where Lynsey swam a good time for the bronze. Her next race, the 200m freestyle provided a tough race with seven competitors in her age group seeded in the fastest heat. Onlookers witnessed a fantastic race, with all swimmers turning together after the first 50m. At 100m, little seperated the three leaders with not one falling behind during the second half. Once again Lynsey was awarded the silver, but was the fastest British swimmer, having narrowly been beaten by a Catalonian.

The afternoon session began with the 400m freestyle, a mid-distance event that has always been one of Lynsey’s strengths. Similar to the earlier 200m, the fastest heat proved to be a very closely fought race. Lynsey went out quickly for the first 100m, maintained a fast pace for the next 200m and really pushed hard in the final 100m. Touching in an excellent time of 5.11.32, Lynsey gained her final medal of the competition – another silver, and with gold going to a swimmer from the top London Masters club Otter, once again she was the fastest Scot. In her final swim of the day, the 50m freestyle, the favourite event for masters, Lynsey came 5th. Overall in her age group, on points total, Lynsey came third out of 18.

Representing South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club, 50 year old Jan Price raced 11 events over 3 sessions. Having reached an age where PBs are tougher to achieve, matching entry times based on last year’s times was her aim. Friday evening’s four races were all just a touch slower than targets but still resulted in silvers for 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly and bronzes for 100m freestyle and 100m individual medley.The next day began very well with a superb race in the 200m IM. For the first 50m butterfly, Jan was close to her previous evening’s sprint time. Then having dropped a little in the backstroke she pulled back on swimmers on either side during the breaststroke and closed the gap on the first length of freestyle. A determined spurt in the final length resulted in a time of 3.14.59 just inside her entry time and first place in her age group. In the 50m backstroke she came third and a second gold of the morning was gained in the 200m breaststroke.

After a relaxed lunch outside in the sunshine, Jan’s next challenge came in the 400m freestyle, the first event in the final session. She paced it well throughout with a strong finish and was delighted with a time only a second slower than her personal best which earned her the bronze.

By mid afternoon, like many swimmers, Jan was looking forward to finishing her events. A time equalling her entry time in the 50m breaststroke resulted in silver, followed by a 4thin her first ever 100m backstroke. 24 hours after arriving at the pool, she finished off her competition with bronze place in 50m freestyle, just a second outside her best. Overall in the women’s 50-54 age group, her points total earned her second place out of 15.

Buckie Age Group Championships - April 2009

2010-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Nine swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club had a very successful trip at the recent Buckie one day event returning with 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze, some Shetland Age Group records and a very creditable 18 personal bests.

Eddie Price, 10, led the way with Golds in the boys 10years 100m butterfly in 1.36.24 and 100m freestyle where he improved on his PB by 1.94 seconds to finish in 1.15.73, a new Shetland Age Group record for 10 & under. He also had a pb and a bronze in the boys 10 year 100m breaststroke with a time of 1.44.73. In the 100m backstroke he swam 1.32.67 and came 4th.

Not to be undone, his older brother Donnie, 12, won Silver in the boys 12-13 100m Butterfly improving his personal best by 2.79 seconds with a time of 1.16.49. Finishing as the fastest 12 year old in all events, he also achieved personal bests and Shetland Age Group records in the 200m freestyle (2.16.71), 200m IM (2.37.26), and the 100m backstroke (1.15.86).

James Morris, 11, had a very good meet gaining PBs in each of his four events, the 11 year old boys 100m breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and freestyle where his times were 1.46.05, 1.28.09, 1.41.5 and 1.17.49

respectively.

Scott Riise, 10, swam in the boys 10 year old 100m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. In both the breaststroke and freestyle he lowered his best times by a huge 6.77s and 5.56s with times of 1.49.99 and 1.20.63 and achieved 4th place in both races.

Older brother Jason Riise, 12, swam consistently well in all four 12-13 year old boys 100m events. His best result was in the 100m freestyle where he narrowly missed a personal best in a time of 1.20.52.

Eldest of the South Mainland girls was Bethany Byrne-McCombie, 13, who swam in all four 12-13 years girls 100m events and the girls 10-15years 200m IM. Like Jason, Bethany swam consistently well, narrowly missing a PB in the 100mfreestyle in a time of 1.16.21.

Lucy Morris did nearly as well as her brother James, gaining three PBs in the 11 year old girls 100m backstroke, butterfly and freestyle with times of 1.36.02, 1.48.62 and 1.26.60 respectively.Vhairi Davies, 10, like Lucy, gained three PBs the best of which was in the 100m butterfly for10 year old girls where she lowered her time by 3.83s to 1.44.54 which was rewarded with a 7th place. Her other times were 1.58.65 for the 100m Breaststroke, (0.34pb), 1.37.93 for the 100m Backstroke, (3.16pb), and 1.32.09 for the 100m Freestyle.

Curstaidh MacKay, 10, swam in the 10year old girls 100m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle gaining a personal best of nearly two seconds in the freestyle with a time of 1.27.87. She narrowly missed a PB in the breaststroke with a time of 1.57.99.

The South Mainland club would like to thank the continued support of their sponsors and the invaluable contributions made by Jill and Iain Henderson of Mainlands and the Freefield Pharmacy.

Scottish National Age Group Championships, Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh - April 2009

2010-03-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

At the Scottish National Age Group Championships held at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool, Donnie Price,12, became the first swimmer from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club to win an Age Group Scottish National Champion title, which he achieved in the 10-12 year boys 1500m freestyle.

Swimmers representing 29 English and 32 Scottish swim clubs competed over 5 days at this top level competition. Competing for his first time in a National championship, Donnie had qualified for 10 events. He produced good personal best times in the 200m breaststroke, long course bests in the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley and was on his entry time for the 100m breaststroke. Only his 100m backstroke was a little off his entry time. However it was in the 5 freestyle races that Donnie, without doubt, performed his best, breaking his Shetland Age Group records.

On the first day of competition, in the 200m freestyle heats, Donnie improved by 1.5 seconds on his previous long course time which was enough to qualify for the evening’s final. An excellent race resulted in taking over 1 second off his heat time to finish in 2.18.91, 7th place and 4th out of the Scottish boys, just behind 12year old Sandy Waller from Heart of Midlothian. Having met Sandy last year when the Hearts club visited Shetland for a training weekend, Sandy and Donnie now met in race after race. On the Thursday in the 800m freestyle, Donnie was a fraction ahead of Sandy until the last turn and in the final 50m was pushed all the way with Sandy just touching 1 second ahead to take 3rd place to Donnie’s 4th.

A virtual repeat performance took place on Friday during the 400m freestyle when again the two boys kept pace with one another throughout the 8 length race, with once more Sandy just beating Donnie by a mere fingernail, 0.12 seconds ahead. The result was a 5th place for Donnie. Then on Saturday, for the fourth day in a row the boys lined up in lanes 1 and 2, with 12year old Dale McAnish from Grangemouth in lane 3. With similar entry times and having witnessed the earlier freestyle events, again an exciting race was expected. The youngsters did not disappoint. For the first 400m all three could not be separated, but over the next 400m Donnie inched slightly in front of Sandy and a couple of body lengths ahead of Dale. Donnie worked hard, maintained excellent pace and increased his lead a fraction of a second each length. At the final 100m both boys gave it their utmost, but the lead Donnie had built up was just enough to give him a clear 3 seconds over Sandy and a superb long course time of 18.53.22. At this stage of the event Donnie was the fastest 10-12 year boy, but in the following heat Thomas Gregson, all the way from Portsmouth, produced an outstanding swim to take 1st overall place. As Thomas is English, it was then Donnie, in addition to getting silver medal for 2nd place, as the top Scot was awarded a Scottish National Age Group Champion medal.

On the last day, the 100m freestyle heats brought an unanticipated challenge, when as the race started, the starting flash light for a deaf swimmer failed and the false start rope was dropped as the rest of the swimmers hit the water. Unfortunately Donnie swam hard into the rope giving himself a painful red rope burn. In the few minutes that it took to re-start the race, Donnie started to shiver and was disappointed in his heat time. Fortunately it was still fast enough to qualify for the final. In the final of an exciting 100m freestyle Donnie just lost out on the bronze medal by half a second.

Altogether, this five day event was a tremendous experience. Both Donnie and Mum/coach Jan gained a lot of valuable knowledge from the competition which included having the opportunity to chat with swimmers and coaches from bigger clubs.

One of the main differences to other events is that morning session warms ups are earlier – 7am and last for up to an hour and a half, so swimmers can choose when they want to warm up and for how long. Donnie found that he benefitted from the extra long warm up. There is no segregation of sexes or clubs, and depending on what events are being swum in a session, it can be a very busy pool. Another facility at top level competitions is having the use of an extra pool – at the RCP it was the diving pool to swim down after a race.There were also tighter controls on access to changing rooms and poolside – no-one being allowed in these areas without an official pass. Spectators were only allowed in designated areas in the seating area, and swimmers were only allowed to spectator area once in dry & dressed in non swimwear.

Then and now

Jan had swum at the Royal Commonwealth Pool at same event 35 years ago, but there were far fewer swimmers back then and the whole competition lasted only 2 days. Swimmers started at the shallow end – yes back in the olden days, diving into less than 1m was allowed!

Forres Bluefins two Day Meet - March 2009

2010-03-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Nine swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club competed in the recent Forres Bluefins 2 day Meet and each achieved at least one personal best time in their races, with some returning home with medals.

Eddie Price, 10, had a very successful weekend, winning gold in the boys 8-10 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley where his time of 1.31.43 was a 3.5 second improvement on his PB. A great race in the 50m butterfly earned him a silver.

Also competing in this age group was Scott Riise, 10, whose best times were a PB in 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, where he was 5th in both events. Older brother, Jason Riise swam 100m events in the 12 year age group and had his best result when he improved his 100m IM time by 3 seconds. His highest place was finishing 6th in 100m breaststroke.

Eleven year old James Morris swam consistently well to achieve 4 PBs. In the 100m freestyle he lowered his PB by one second to 1.17.74 and just missed out on a medal by a tiny 7/100 of a second. He was also placed 4th in 100m breaststroke, 5th in 100m backstroke and 6th in 100m IM, so was thrilled when he made 3rd place and a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly.

The four boys took part in two relay races, and came 5th in Saturday’s medley relay.

Late on Sunday afternoon, club swimmers, coaches, parents and friends were provided with one of the most exciting races of the weekend by the boys in the 4x50m freestyle relay. James led off well, followed by Jason, then Scott. At the final takeover, Eddie was about 5 metres ahead of a 12year old Forres boy. At the turn Eddie could see the older boy was gaining on him, but put in a determined effort and managed to hold on to the lead touching just 1/2 second in front. This fantastic swim was enough to result in the boys winning the bronze medal, only beaten by a team of 12 year olds boys from Thurso and a first class gold medal team from Delting.

Eldest of the South Mainland girls was 12 year old Morven Davies, in her first event south for nearly two years. She had 4 PBs and displayed improvement in all her strokes. Her biggest PB was in the 100m IM where she knocked off a substantial 5 seconds. In her last individual event she was set the target of breaking the 1.30 mark and was delighted to touch in 1.28.06.

Lucy Morris, 11, made 3 PBs over the two days. Her best event was in the 100m backstroke where she improved her PB by over 3 seconds with a time of 1.38.97 and finished in 9th place. Her other PBs were for

100m butterfly and the 100m IM.

Vhairi Davies, 10, managed to gain 4 good PBs. Improving on her entry time by just over 1 second in the 50m backstroke she narrowly missed a medal, finishing in 4th place and was 7th in 50m butterfly, 9th in breaststroke and free style. Her 100m IM time of 1.40.53 was a super 6 second PB and gained her 6th place.

Curstaidh Mackay, 10, had a perfect 5 out of 5 PBs, showing excellent, steady improvement in all events where her best placings were 7th for both the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Curstaidh also managed to drop her 50m free times when it came to joining Lucy, Vhairi and Morven in the relays, where she brilliantly swam the final leg in both the medley relay and the freestyle relay.

While in the boys relays, only 2 heats were swum, there were 3 heats for the girls and with some teams made up of four 12 year old girls, the younger girls from South Mainland were up against some very experienced and faster opposition. Although not managing to win a medal like the boys, they nevertheless gained valuable experience in the thrill and excitement of relay races.

Morven and Vhairi’s younger sister Erraid at just 8 was one of the youngest competitors at Forres and swam all 5 races in the 8-10 girls age group. The talented youngster gained superb PBs and was placed 8th in 50m backstroke and 9th in 100IM. Whizzing through the water in her last race, the 50m butterfly, she astounded all with an incredible time of 43.46, which gained her a excellent 5th position.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank Northlink and Freefield Pharmacy for their continued support and sponsorship.

SMASC Coaches Report, April 2008 – March 2009

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South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club has a healthy swimmer membership of 37, from 7 years to 50! who have continued to progress in their abilities over the last year with many taking part in both local & south galas.

At local galas, South Mainland continue to do very well with Junior & Senior members taking home a huge range of Age Group Trophies, medals and personal best times (pbs). There are quite a variety of galas in Shetland & it is great to see the attendance we have at them. We definitely had the noisiest support for our swimmers.

A special congratulation to the whole team for recently winning this years Beta League competition. Beta League gives a wide age range & ability of swimmers a chance to compete against other Shetland swimmers AS A TEAM. Well Done. Thanks should also go to parents & families for all the timekeeping we provide & the super support given.

Congratulations also to Darin Eldridge, Donnie Price, James Morris & Eddie Price who have broken existing Shetland Records.

At this point, we should definitely take the time to thank all the technical officials, without whom these galas would not be able to take place, or be accredited.

Shetland is getting to a critical point for Judges & I would urge anyone to think of volunteering for Judge 1. Everyone is now mentored until they feel accomplished at timekeeping, before progressing on to the judging part.

Over the year the club attended 13 galas south. It would have been slightly more but due to unforeseen circumstances some were cancelled. Attending meets on the mainland takes a huge amount of planning mainly before the club even leaves Shetland. But the benefits the swimmers gain from competing in a bigger field make it definitely worthwhile. Many regularly return home with pbs, medals, speeding tickets and trophies which are an absolute credit to their enthusiasm & dedication.

As the swimmers attend more meets within the North District & further afield they regularly meet the same swimmers & its great to see friendships forming from across Scotland. These meets also give coaches a chance to network & tap into a huge resource of information.

Twenty one swimmers attended meets south, mostly part-funded by the club. Some swimmers self funded due to choice or being outwith our trips policy.

The range of meets we attend is huge- from Inverness Graded meet, often the first meet south a swimmer attends through to the Scottish National Age Group Championships, where a mention must go to Donnie Price in becoming the 11-12year old SNAGs Boys Champion in 1500m Freestyle – a tremendous achievement coming from a 17m pool!

In the month preceding this Donnie brought home another top award - the North District Age Group Champion overall 11/12year boy. This certainly gives our younger swimmers something to aspire to.

DEVELOPMENT of swimmers is ongoing in Shetland with progression from club swimming to include development & then County Squad Training in their hectic schedules. This can be a huge boost to the children & gives them the opportunity to train with swimmers from throughout Shetland.

The Shetland Development Squad now includes Jason & Scott Riise, James, Lucy & Sophie Morris, Eddie Price, Morven & Vhairi Davies, Sophie Moar, Curstaidh MacKay, & Cara Steven within their ranks.

And those who swim with the Shetland County Squad are Donnie Price, Bethany Byrne McCombie, Sarah Keay, Kirsty Laurenson & Darin & Karl Eldridge

For the first time 2 swimmers, Donnie Price & Sarah Keay, gained places in the North District Regional Programme & travelled to Aberdeen to take part in land & pool training days with other North District swimmers. These sessions, led by Olympic Coach Doug Campbell are also beneficial to coaches, bringing back tips to other club swimmers.

At home our Club Sessions continue on Sundays 4-6pm. Thank You to the clubs poolside volunteers for giving up their time & providing commitment & enthusiasm.

I was recently asked about poolside volunteers qualifications; We have 2 Coaches at Level 1 – Jan Price & Susan Keay & 4 Teachers at Level 1 - Yvonne MacGregor, Jan Price, Justin Eldridge & Susan Keay. But the club could not operate without ALL the poolside volunteers who give up their Sunday teatimes – Jimmie Morris & Ian Bray.

Also thanks to parents for getting swimmers to poolside in plenty of time!!!!!!!!!!!!! The club is always on the lookout for those willing to assist on poolside.

We have had a number of extra timing sessions and a few coaching sessions at Clickimin, which we hope to increase over the next year, along with the addition of an early morning session at Sandwick.

Masters – Our oldest swimmer, Jan Price, continues to win medals at Masters competitions South & is always on the lookout for a relay team –volunteers welcome.

Disability Swimming- Erraid Davies was invited as a guest swimmer to the National Disability Gala for Physical & sensory impairment. This was funded by the Callum Younger Reach Fund & was a great experience for her.

Land Training- There have been a few land training sessions over the year, the last being with Jake Williams. These have been a success, although finding a suitable time slot always proves difficult.

So all in all it has been a very successful year for the club & hopefully the next year will continue in the same way.

North District Age Group Championships, Inverness - 7-8 March 2009

2010-03-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club swimmer, Donnie Price, 12, was awarded the trophy for top boy age 10-12 at the North District Age Group Championships in Inverness. On his way to achieving this title he won 4 gold (100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle), 1 silver (100m breaststroke), and 3 bronze medals (200m breaststroke, 200m IM and 400m IM). In the 200m backstroke he was placed 4th, 7th in 100m butterfly and 8th in 100m backstroke. In all but the 400m IM he produced personal best times, lowering his previously set Shetland Age Group records.

A convincing winner in the 4 freestyle events, Donnie was aiming for a time under 10 minutes in the 800m and was thrilled to hit the touch pad well under target in an excellent time of 9.52.68. In other races he experienced tough challenges with his competitors being equal or faster. After Saturday afternoon’s heats of the 100m breaststroke, 4 boys had qualified for the evening final with only 1/2 second between them. A tremendous race for the youngsters pushed the first three to each swim a massive 2 seconds faster than in the heats, with Donnie just being beaten into second place by 7/100 second.

Day two of the competition continued with plenty more events, again some with evening finals. Having knocked over 2 seconds off his entry time, Donnie found himself ranked in 3rd place for the 200IM. Determined not to lose out on a medal he swam a superb race, finished 3rd and had taken a further 2 seconds off his PB, thus his biggest improvement of the weekend.

South Mainland’s other swimmers who had qualified for the Championships for the first time, were Darin Eldridge 11, and Sarah Keay 12. Only a few 11 year olds were competing, and Darin swam very well in his 5 races. He had a brilliant 2 sec PB in the 100m freestyle finishing in 1.10.59. His 200m breaststroke was his highest placed event finishing in 11th and his remaining events were all on entry times.

Due to illness, Sarah reduced her events to just 3; 100m free, 100m breaststroke & 100m butterfly. All 3 races left her exhausted but she had performed tremendously well to finish each just a fraction of a second outside PBs.

South Mainland ASC would like to express their thanks and appreciation of the support and sponsorship towards this trip, given by Northlink, Mainlands, Dunrossness Community Council, and Sandwick Community Council.

Shetland Junior Age Group Championships, 22nd February 2009

2010-03-20T14:23:00.001-07:00

Edinburgh International Age Group Championships, Royal Commonwealth Pool - February 2009

2010-03-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Two young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club recently attended the Edinburgh International Age Groups Championships, a 3 day competition held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

For Sarah Keay, age 12, this was her first time of competing in a 50metre pool, long course competition and for team mate Donnie Price, 12, his first opportunity to swim more than a 1 length race long course.

With a view to progressing to competing in Scottish National events, the swimmers gained valuable experience in learning to adapt to the different pool length and coped well with the challenges of races without the additional push offs with more frequent turns in standard 25m pools.

Meeting up with top ranked swimmers from throughout Scotland, Sarah swam 8 events and Donnie swam all 9 events for 11/12 year boys. This included the tremendously demanding 200m butterfly, a race that only attracted up to 12 swimmers – a lot less than the 48 qualifiers for other events in their age group.

Since neither Donnie or Sarah had previously swam their races in a 50 metre pool, all times were recorded as new long course Personal Bests. Their times, converted to short course were all close to PBs or improvements.

On the first day of competition, Donnie found himself in the fastest heats for the 200m freestyle and the 100m breaststroke. He came 4th in the 200m freestyle with a PB and a new Shetland Age Group record and qualified in 6th place for the final of the 100m breaststroke. Returning for the evening’s finals, he improved both his time and his place, and in a closely fought race finished in 4th position.

On day two, the 200m butterfly was a low point for Donnie, but excellent swims in the heats of the 100m backstroke and the 100m freestyle resulted in two more evening finals.

In the backstroke he maintained his position, finishing in 6th. In the 100m freestyle, like the previous day, he swam his final faster than the heats and held on to his position of third place, his time of 1.04.46 his second Shetland Age Group record of the meet.

On the last day of competition, Donnie had a very good 200m breaststroke with a time when converted to short course provided him with his third Shetland Age Group record. In the 200m backstroke race he finished 6th and with a new personal best in the 100m butterfly came 10th

Sarah had a mixed 3 days. On the Friday, her 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke were just outside her entry times, but like most young swimmers, she was disappointed not to swim any times that when converted would have been personal bests. However, after a good night’s sleep, she bounced back on day two, when in her 100m backstroke improved greatly on her position from ranked 30th to finishing a creditable 17th overall. In her 100 freestyle, she was delighted to then swim a personal best of 1.11.26.

On the third day, the 200 breaststroke gave Sarah her next chance show what she’s capable of, and once again swam a PB. Her final 2 races were both swum well, although just slightly down on times.

The South Mainland swimmers and coaches would like to thank Mainlands and Northlink for their ongoing sponsorship and support.

North District Age Group Meet, Inverness - December 2008

2010-03-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Six young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club had a successful weekend last month, competing at the North District Age Group Meet at Inverness.

While fellow Shetland county squad swimmer, Felix Gifford of Delting Dolphins stood out as the most successful 13-14 boy, South Mainland’s Donnie Price, age 12, was the top boy in the 10-12 year age bracket.

The only boy in his age group to compete in all 12 events, Donnie won golds for 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 1500m freestyle. Silver was won in the 100m breaststroke and bronze medals came in the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke. In each swim a personal best time was achieved and 10 new Shetland 11/12 years age group records were accomplished on the way, including the 200m butterfly, and both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. Undoubtedly Donnie’s most outstanding swim was in the 1500m freestyle. Guaranteed to win a medal, since only 3 boys age 10-12 were competing in this the longest pool event, he swam in a seeded heat that also included boys from the older age group.

Going out fast from the start, he maintained his pace in clockwork fashion, pulled ahead of some of the bigger boys by halfway, and, cheered on by his team mates on poolside during the last 200m, finished 2 lengths clear of the second position swimmer in his age group. Finishing in a time of 18.50.22, he had knocked off 59 seconds from the previous Shetland 11/12 years record.

Darin Eldridge, age 11, competing in this meet for the second year, was kept very busy with 11 events. He displayed improvement in entry times for all strokes and distances, but especially in the 200m & 400m events where he has had little previous experience at this level of competition. In the 400m IM he took off a remarkable 15 seconds from his PB, to finish in 6.14.72, 11th place overall but 3rd out of the 11 year old boys. Darin’s best achievement was in the 200m breaststroke where he finished 7th overall, the 2nd fastest 11 year old.

Only five 10 year old boys had qualified for the Inverness meet, and two of them, James Morris and Eddie Price were from South Mainland. James swam in 5 events, and despite having been ill the previous week, managed to produce 3 good personal best times. James and Eddie, used to pushing each other in training at Sandwick, had a fantastic race in the 200m backstroke, where Eddie was just out-touched by 1/2 second by James, whose time of 3.08.77 was a new Shetland record for 10 year boys.

In both the 100m and the 200m freestyle James and Eddie were again swimming in the same heat. Eddie finished with a good PB in the 100m and James was just outside his previous best. The 200m free, the last event for both boys, once more was closely fought – both producing huge 8 second PBs. Eddie, the very youngest boy from over 20 clubs competing at the meet, finished in a time of 2.43.72, beating his big brother’s Shetland 10year boys record by over 2 seconds.

The girls taking part were 12 year olds Kirsty Laurenson, competing at the event for the first time, and Sarah Keay. Sarah woke up on the Saturday with a stinking cold, so the weekend was going to be a real challenge. However, despite feeling far from top form, she coped well with the fairly hefty schedule of 10 events, and produced swims close to her entry times. Remarkably, Sarah even managed to pull off a couple of PBs. In her best event of the weekend, the 100m breaststroke she broke the 1.30 mark for the first time, with 1.29.00, a 2sec PB and finished in an excellent 7th overall position.

In 2007, Kirsty just missed qualifying for the event, but with a further 12 months of sound training found herself now swimming in 10 events. In nearly all her races she produced good PBs. Her best swims came in 200m butterfly and the 400m IM, arguably the two toughest events in competitive swimming. With her stamina gained from regular hard work in the pool, Kirsty showed brilliant improvement from her previous times.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank the following for their sponsorship and support; Nothlink Ferries, Mainlands, JHB Ltd, JA&GD Nicolson and Freefield Pharmacy.

Shetland Junior Age Group Sprints - 28 September 2008

2010-03-20T14:04:00.001-07:00

Bridge of Don September Splash and the Cults Otters ASC Bibby Offshore Gala – September 2008

2010-03-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Nine young swimmers from South Mainland ASC recently attended the Bridge of Don September Splash and the Cults Otters ASC Bibby Offshore Gala in Aberdeen.

At the Graded September Splash, Sarah Keay, Bethany Byrne-McCombie, Kirsty Laurenson, Donnie Price, Jason Riise (all 12yrs), Ryan Keddie (10yrs) and Eddie Price (9yrs), swam in at least one of the open events; 50m freestyle and 100m IM, all gaining pb’s.

In the Graded part of the competition, James Morris, Lucy Morris (both10yrs) & Eddie had excellent pb swims in both 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly. James took Gold (1.42.95), Eddie took Silver (1.45.91) and Lucy had a fantastic 7s pb in the fly.

In the 100m breaststroke, James came 4th, Eddie a great 6s pb and Lucy also swam well to get a new pb (1.55.92). She also had a 2s pb in 100m freestyle. Ryan had a great 100m backstroke swim in a time of

1.38.57 (5s pb) to give him Gold.

Jason swam well in 11-12yr age group in 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke. Also in this age group, Sarah swam an excellent 100m butterfly, improving her pb by 6s and gaining a speeding ticket for

exceeding the cut-off time.

The following day was the Cults Otters Gala.

First in the pool for SMASC was Sarah, equaling her pb in 400m freestyle. She swam well in her other four events, particularly in 100m freestyle where she gained a well deserved Bronze medal and a super pb (1.10.99), and a great swim (4th) in 100m breaststroke (1.32.58, 2s pb).

Team mate Kirsty swam in five events & was well ahead of others in her heat. She had a terrific 6s pb in the 100m fly (1.27.73), a brilliant 10s pb in 200 IM and a 4s pb in breaststroke. Also in the 11-12yrs, Bethany had a tremendous 13s pb in 200 IM (2.59.91), 3s off her pb in freestyle and a new pb in 100m breaststroke (1.32.94).

For the 11-12yr boys, Donnie Price gained an impressive 3 medals; In 100m backstroke he took Bronze medal, a Silver in the 100m freestyle (a super 2s pb, 1.05.64) and a Gold (2s pb) in the 400m freestyle. He also narrowly missed out on Bronze in the 100m breaststroke by 0.14s, coming 4th.

In his best swim of the weekend, Jason achieved a 2s pb in 100m breaststroke (1.40.82). There was a very close race in the 10s & under 100m freestyle, with all 3 SMASC boys in the same heat. All 3 finished within 0.4s of each other, with James claiming the Bronze medal (1.21.14), Eddie was 4th & Ryan 5th.

In the 100m breaststroke Ryan swam well to get a bronze medal. In the afternoon, in another closely fought heat, James claimed another bronze, this time in 400m freestyle (6.10.68), with Eddie 4th (6.10.68). In their last event, the 100m backstroke, it was Eddie who came ahead of his team mates to get 4th, (1.33.37), James 5th & Ryan 6th.

In her last swim of the weekend, Lucy had a 3s pb in the backstroke.

South Mainland ASC would like to thank the Sandwick Baking Company, A.L. Laings, Peter Bardell and Mainlands Ltd. for their support.

Alloa Open - June 2008

2010-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

South Mainland ASC was represented at the Alloa Open by brothers Donnie and Eddie Price. The competition, held at Bellshill attracted swimmers from throughout Scotland and all races provided the boys with some excellent races against stiff opposition.

Donnie (11) swam all 7 races in the 11/12 year age group. His first two swims were the 200m butterfly and the 200m IM, and in both finished in times just outside his personal bests finishing in 6th and 4th places. However things started to look up in the second session, when he had a terrific race in the 200m breaststroke to produce a 2 second PB with a time of 3.13.22 and finished in 5th place. Such a close race it was that there was only 0.5sec between 2nd and 5th places.

On the Sunday, Donnie’s first event was the 200m backstroke. Once more he was within a second of his PB and was placed 6th. Less than an hour later was the 400m freeestyle, which was a fantastic race to watch. Four of the boys in his heat were from big clubs, Warrender, Grangemouth and Ren96 and the other was Matthew Anderson from Oban. A credit to small clubs, Matthew and Donnie were out in front throughout the race, along with Dale McAnish of Grangemouth who just out-touched them at the finish. With 3rd place Donnie had reached another milestone, by going under 5 minutes for the first time with a time of 4.59.33, an excellent 8 second PB.

After lunch the same boys met in the pool for the 200m freestyle. Once again the Grangemouth lad was just a fraction of a second ahead. This time though, Donnie gained the silver in a 2 sec PB of 2.22.50 with Matthew a fingernail behind. The last event for Donnie was the tough 400m IM. He had a fabulous 9sec PB, to finish in 4th place in 6.00.39, a new Shetland record for the event in the 11/12 year age group.

For younger brother Eddie, 9, this was his first experience in competing at this level of competition, with swimmers up to age 20. He swam one race in each session - all were 50m events. In his first race, butterfly, he had a brilliant swim to finish in 3rd place in a PB of 45.60. Knocking off a second in the freestyle, he once again was 3rd in a time of 36.77. The second day started with backstroke and this time he took a massive 4 sec off his previous best with a 44.26, finishing in 5th position. In his breaststroke he came a respectful 7th place with a time of 53.90 just a fraction of a second outside his best.

The trip combined swimming with collecting big brother Rory (home for the summer), and finished off with a fun event - Sunday night was spent camping out in a tent at their big cousins in Tillicoultry!

Head to Head, Brae - May 2008

2010-03-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Inverness Graded Meet - 3rd May 2008

2010-03-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Eleven young swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club had an exciting weekend competing at the Inverness Graded Meet last Saturday, and each and every one achieved results displaying tremendous improvement.

This was the first competition south for Eddie Price (9), Sophie Moar (10), Curstaidh Mackay (9), Cara Stevens (9) and eight year old Sophie Morris.

Medals were won, and several of the team swam faster than the cut off time for gold, where instead of a medal, swimmers were presented with ‘speeding tickets’; an award of a certificate and a swim cap printed with ‘Caught speeding in Inverness’!

Eddie Price (9) was the first swimmer of the day to get a ‘speeding ticket’ when he took 5 seconds of his personal best (PB) in the Boys 10 & under 50m freestyle in the fastest time of 37.67sec. Fraser Tait (9) also had a 3sec PB in his heat and came 7th in 43.00. Eddie then won a gold in the 50m back in 48.11 (4 sec PB), and another massive 8sec PB, along with a speeding ticket, was achieved with a time of 45.93 in the 50m butterfly, again the fastest swimmer in the race. In the same heat, James Monaghan (9) swam a time of 47.71 (a huge 6sec PB) earning him a speeding ticket. Finishing in 6th place was Fraser in 1.00.91 (PB).

In the first event of the afternoon session, in the 100m individual medley, Eddie and James along with Scott Riise (9), thrilled the spectators with a race as close as some of the recent World Championship events with only 0.64sec separating them at the finish. Eddie just touched first in 1.38.09, James a close second in1.38.67 and Scott, an even closer third in 1.38.73. Visibly faster than all others in the race, they all were awarded speeding tickets. Fraser had a terrific 8sec PB with a 1.51.27 in the same event, finishing only 2 away from medal placings. Shortly after, in the 50m breaststroke, James and Scott again could hardly be separated but James finished a fingertip ahead in 52.23 (PB) in gold place – Scott in 52.43 (PB), silver place. Eddie who had swum in an earlier heat in 53.08 (8 sec PB) sneaked into bronze place. Fraser also produced a PB with a 1.02.76. Fraser’s turn on the rostrum came, when along with James, Scott and Eddie, the South Mainland boys team won the gold in the 10 & under 200m freestyle relay.

In the 11-12 year age group, Jason Riise (11) won the gold medal for the 100m IM with a time of 1.33.42, a 7 sec chunk off his previous best time, and in 100m backstroke he took a superb 4 sec off his PB time from only the previous weekend to finish in bronze position in 1.34.58. In the 100m butterfly he swam a PB for a 25m pool with a time of 1.49.17.

All six girls swam really well in all their races too, with success running throughout the day. The first awards came in the girls first event, the 10 & under 50m freestyle where the winners of the fantastic swim hats for speeding were Sophie Moar in a 4sec PB time of 39.53 and Curstaidh Mackay in 40.22 – over 6 seconds fasters than her previous best.

In this event, less than 1 sec separated the gold and fifth position – amongst these swimmers was Vhairi Davies (9) who took 5 sec off her best to produce a 41.85, and only just missed out on a medal. Cara Stevens had a terrific swim to produce a 4sec PB in a time of 44.93.

Lucy Morris (10) could hardly wait for her opportunity to try and win a hat, and it came in the 10 & under 50m backstroke, where she found herself in the next lane to her peerie sister, Sophie with team mates Vhairi and Sophie Moar also in the same heat. Another incredibly close race, Lucy touched second in a 3 sec PB of 47.92, too fast for a medal so got the hat she was after. Just one other swimmer separated the two sisters, Sophie won the silver medal in 49.21(PB), just ahead of Sophie Moar who took the bronze in 50.16(PB). Curstaidh knocked 6 sec off her PB to produce a 50.89 and finished 5th. Vhairi improved her PB by a second for a 51.33 (7th) and Cara swam a good 1.00.04.

The 50m butterfly was the event for young Sophie to get her speeding award, where she finished as the second fastest swimmer in 49.07, an outstanding time for an eight year old and an almost unbelievable 13 sec PB. This event resulted with 5 of the entrants receiving speeding awards, which meant that Curstaidh swimming with much improved technique and a huge 9sec PB gained the bronze medal in a time of 55.75. Cara swam well to finish in a 1.08.50.

All the girls swam the 100m IM. Lucy was the fastest of the team with a 1.44.71 (7sec PB) and finished 4th. Sophie Morris was 6th in 1.49.15 (13sec PB), Sophie Moar was 8th in 1.49.15, Curstaidh was 10th in 1.51.80 (17sec PB), Vhairi was 16th in 1.57.29 (7sec PB) and Cara was 19th in 2.04.19 (7.5sec PB).

Silver medal success came in the closely fought 50m breaststroke for Sophie Moar, chopping 2sec off her previous best with a 54.84. Breaking the 1 minute for the first time for this event Sophie Morris swam a 58.85 (3sec PB) and Cara 58.99 (3sec PB). Curstaidh, in her final event of the day once again had a big improvement with a 1.02.35 (6sec PB) and Vhairi swam a 1.03.32.

The very last race for Lucy, Vhairi, Sophie & Sophie was the 200m freestyle relay where they were able to match the boys’ success by winning the gold.

Swimmers appreciated the help from the adult leaders on the trip and the cheerleading team of Mums.

Buckie Age Group Championships – April 2008

2010-03-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend 7 young swimmers from South Mainland Swimming Club (SMASC) traveled south to attend the Buckie Age Group Championships. The day before the competition the swimmers were delighted to be shown around RAF Lossiemouth by Flight Officer George Thompson and had a close up view of some Nimrods.

On Saturday first in the pool was Donnie Price in the 200m individual medley open event. He swam well against the older competitors, taking 1s off his personal best time (PB). In the 10-11yr age group, Donnie swept the board with 4 gold medals for 100m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke (1.21.51& a 3s PB) & breaststroke. In the 200m freestyle open event, Donnie was the only 11yr old to qualify and was competing against others up to 21yrs old. He had a great swim & took 2s off his personal best time (PB) 2.24.90 to come 18th out of 30.

Also competing for the boys in this age group were Darin Eldridge (11), Jason Riise (11) and James Morris (10). Darin produced a brilliant 4s PB in 100m freestyle (01.13.60) to come 4th, had a super swim in butterfly, narrowly missing bronze medal by 0.3s (1.34.86 & a 2.5s PB), 4th in backstroke with a great 3s PB (01.26.95) and came 5th in breaststroke.

Jason swam well in his 3 races to give him new PBs. He took an excellent 3s off both 100m backstroke (1.39.81) & breaststroke (1.41.39 & 6th place) and 0.5s off in freestyle.

SMASCs youngest competitor at the meet was James Morris, who took a super 2s off his PB in 100m freestyle to come 12th (3rd fastest 10year old) and had good swims in backstroke and breaststroke.

For the 10-11yr old girls, Sarah Keay (11) produced some consistent swims coming 5th in 100m freestyle, 6th in 100m breaststroke and 8th in both backstroke and butterfly.

Karl Eldridge & Bethany Byrne-McCombie both competed in the 12-13yr age group. Karl (12) had a great swim in 100m freestyle, taking almost 2s off his PB (1.14.70). In backstroke he produce another excellent PB (1.25.99), taking almost 4s off his previous time. Karl also swam well in 100m butterfly and breaststroke.

For the girls, Bethany (12) had a superb meet smashing her PBs in all 3 events. She took 4s off in 100m breaststroke (1.33.27), 4s off in 100m backstroke (1.20.82) and a fantastic 7s off in butterfly (1.28.20). The swimmers would like to thank the coaches & adults who travelled with them.

Sarah Keay - Forres Bluefins Meet – March 2008

2010-03-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sarah Keay, from South Mainland Swimming Club, took part in the Forres Bluefins 2 day meet last weekend in the 11yr age group. She gained a medal & new personal best time (pb) in each event she competed in. Her first event was 100m backstroke and Sarah swam well to get Bronze medal & 3s pb in a time of 1.25.83.

In 100m Breaststroke she gained the first of her 3 silver medals in a very close race with an excellent 4s pb (1.34.80). The following afternoon, Sarah managed a superb 6s pb and Silver in 100m Individual Medley (1.22.84) and in her last race of the meet she gained her final silver medal with a fantastic swim in 100m Freestyle (1.11.44 & 3s pb).

Donnie Price – North District Age group Championships Inverness - March 2008

2010-03-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Eleven year old Donnie Price from South Mainland ASC was the youngest swimmer from Shetland competing in last weekend’s North District Age group Championships in Inverness. He qualified for seven events in the 10-12 year age group, and in every race produced a personal best time (pb).

His first race on Saturday was the 100m freestyle and smashing his previous best time by almost 3 seconds, he swam it in 1:07.09. With this superb time he was 7th fastest qualifier for the final and the only 11 year old in the race. In the evening’s final he improved his position and narrowly missed out in medal placings finishing in a very creditable 4th place. Earlier, in the heats of the 100m breaststroke, Donnie had a 4 sec pb with a time of 1:30.69 and again qualified for the final.

In a tremendous race he broke his heat time, and finished 6th in a 1:29.92. Again he was the top 11 year old. He was also the fastest 11 year old in the 200m freestyle in which he was 7th overall in an excellent 2:26.66. In his remaining 4 events, Donnie finished as second fastest 11 year old. In a time of 5:07.84, a 10 second improvement on his entry time, he was placed 8th in the 400m freestyle and came 12th in the 200m breaststroke in 3:15.16 (a 3sec pb). On day 2 of the championships,

Donnie came 9th in 100m butterfly with a 5 sec pb of 1:24.20, and was placed 10th in the 200m individual medley with a time off 2:53.21, just under 5 seconds faster than his previous best.