Yahoo News Dumfries Amateur Swimming Club members take part in inaugural Broxburn Pentaqua
Dumfries Amateur Swimming Club members attended the inaugural Broxburn Pentaqua held at the Xcite, Whitburn on May 12.
This was a great entry level event for swimmers starting their racing journey and for others to gain more experience racing different events.
Many smashed their personal bests and some set their first ones, as well as competing in relays. They also achieved a fantastic number of medals.
Results un the girls events – Yvaine (gold, 2x silver), Ophelia (silver, 2x bronze), Gabriella (2x gold, 3x bronze), Rachel (3x silver, bronze), Leena (bronze).
The boys also had their own medal tally – Angus (2x gold, silver), Shane (gold, 2x bronze), Rufus (4x silver), Jack (2x gold, 3x bronze).
Finlay Nelson, Rhys Edwards and Molly Irvine-Watson took part in the Manchester Arena open meet on May 12/13 with swimmers from all over the UK taking part, providing the opportunity for the swimmers to achieve long course (50m pool) times for the upcoming summer meets.
The trio put in some fantastic performances.
In the 17 and over category, Finlay was sixth in both the 100m and 50m fly, 12th in the 50m and 16th in the 100m breaststroke. Rhys achieved the silver medal in the 16 year age group for his 200m free and Molly improved on her time for British in the 100m free, getting the silver in the 15 year age group, as well as finishing seventh and 20th in the 50m and 200m free events respectively.
Eleven swimmers took part in the Carnegie spring meet at Michael Woods Sports Centre in Glenrothes on May 12/13.
This was a short course swim meet which gave the opportunity for all competing to further better their times, across a variety of distances, ahead of the upcoming short course season, which begins after the summer.
After a lot of brilliant swims and many top 10 placings the following swimmers came home with medals – Lauren Dunlop (silver 400m free & 100m back), Eedih Laidlaw (silver 200m fly, bronze 400m free & 200IM), Teyah Laidlaw (gold 50m fly, bronze 200IM & 100m back), Eve Russell (bronze 200m fly) and Nathan Zaoral took a clean sweep of gold medals in his events (50m fly, 400m free, 100m fly, 200m free, 50m back, 200m fly, 50m free & 200IM).
Coach Ailsa Nelson said: “They all swam out of their skins and this showed with the amount of PBs achieved. In total they swam 53 personal best times over the weekend. Brilliant swimming, well done team.”
A team of DASC swimmers took part in the Newton Stewart Tri Club Aquathlon on May 18. An aquathlon involves a swim followed by a run. It is a great introduction to doing multi events.
In the Have a Go 25m swim/0.65km run, twins Arleigh and Aurelia Hinton both came second in the boys and girls events while Chloe Hiddleston also came second in the Have a Go 50m swim/1km run.
In the eight and under 50m swim/0.65km run, Angus Henry and Ophelia Forrest took the gold medals in the boys and girls events with Max Hiddleston achieving the bronze in the boys and Piper Henry coming fourth in the girls. Gabriella Forrest dominated the run section and took gold in the 9-10 year old girls, which involved a 150m swim/1km run, and Aria Hinton finished sixth.
The 11-12 years boys race (250m swim/1.3km run) was won by Struan Henry who demonstrated his super abilities in both disciplines. Amber Hinton did the same in the 13-16 years category, taking the gold medal after doing a 400m swim/2.6km run, finishing ahead of the field by a good distance.
In the adult sprint event (750m swim/5km road race) masters swimmer Chris Henry and national swimmer Finlay Hiddleston were in action. Both did exceptionally well with Chris finishing in fourth place and Finlay, after a brilliant swim and an amazing road run, finished on top of the podium.
Thanks to Jemma McNeill and her team at the Newton Stewart Triathlon Club for hosting such a fantastic event.
A number of club swimmers will be taking part in the British/Scottish summer qualification competition at the Ponds Forge Arena in Sheffield this July.
The top 28 swimmers in their age groups in Britain and the top 20 in both the 800m and 1500m free events are invited to attend these championships.
The club qualifying swimmers are club captain Georgia Dickie (400m, 800m & 1500m free), Ruari Webster (50m, 100m breast), Molly Irvine-Watson (50m, 100m free) and Amber Hinton (200m, 400m, 800m & 1500m free, 200 breast, 200m fly & 400IM).
In addition to the individual swims, the 14-16 year old girls’ relay team of Molly Irvine-Watson, Amber Hinton, Anna Dunlop and Millie Colvin have qualified for the 4x100m free relay. This is only the second time a Dumfries girls team has qualified for this prestigious event.
This is a busy summer for the club and Dumfries ASC also have 19 swimmers who qualified for the Scottish Summer Meet in Aberdeen in July.
Qualifying in the boys’ events are Yassin Hatab (10 events), Struan Henry (two events), Nathan Zaoral (six events), Finlay Hiddleston (nine events), Rhys Edwards (four events), Daniel Faulkner (one event), Finlay Nelson (five events) and Ruari Webster (four events).
Qualifying in the girls category are Iona Kellock (two events), Teyah Laidlaw (two events), Lauren Dunlop (five events), Amber Hinton (six events), Eedih Laidlaw (one event), Sarah McQuire (two events), Anna Dunlop (four events), Molly Irvine-Watson (five events), Ava Service (three events), Millie Colvin (eight events) and Georgia Dickie (two events).
Congratulations to Rufus Turner who was the junior squad winner of the swimmer of the month Award for May, as chosen by squad coaches Christine and Susan, who said: “Rufus has shown determination in tackling new challenges, one of which was joining the Clyde Coast Mini League Team at late notice last weekend, he works hard at training and does everything with a smile. Well done Rufus! Keep up the good work.”
