News

Swimmers from Edinburgh’s Warrender Baths Club are celebrating this week after being crowned the Top Club at the Scottish National Short Course Championships held last weekend (16-18 January 2009) at Glasgow’s Toll Cross pool.

Competing against the country’s best swimmers, plus several high profile teams from England, Warrender won the overall team title by 290 points leaving the teams of Glasgow, Stirling, Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen trailing in their wake.

Leading the way for the Warrender club were Great Britain Senior Team member Lewis Smith, 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games swimmer Sally Wood and Scottish Institute of Sport members Billy Purnell and Craig Hamilton.

Lewis confirmed his versatility by winning the Scottish Senior National title in his signature event, the 400 Individual Medley, as well as the 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, 100 Individual Medley and the 1500 Freestyle events.

Sally showed great endurance competing in three individual finals each night, plus playing a key role in all three of Warrender’s relay victories. Setting lifetime best times in all of her events, Sally picked up silver in the 200 and 400 Individual Medley.

Billy rejoined the team after moving to train at the Stirling ITC last September, and demonstrated that the hard work has paid off when winning the 50 and 100 Backstroke and the 200 Individual Medley titles and coming in second behind Lewis in the 100 Individual Medley and 200 Backstroke.

Craig stepped up to senior level, competing against some very tough opposition to qualify in the A final for the 200 and 400 Freestyle events as well as picking up fourth place in the 1500 Freestyle.

In the Junior rankings Craig Benson picked up the Junior National title in the 50, 100 and 200 Breaststroke events following great performances in all three races smashing the 14 year old National Record in each along the way. Jennifer Dobson was crowned Junior Champion in the Women’s 200 Individual Medley. Dan Wallace took out the 15/U 400 Individual Medley title, whilst Rachael McQueen picked up her first National medal when doing likewise in the 14/U 400 Individual Medley. Connor Wilson took the junior wins to three out of six when he stormed to victory in the 15/U 1500 Freestyle.

Some of the best performances of all were reserved for the relay events. In the women’s medley relay, Sally, combined with Rosie Hood, Fiona Booth and Helen McRoberts to take the gold medal in a new Scottish National Team Record of 1:58.36. Jennifer Davis switched places with Rosie for the freestyle relays and led the way to another two National titles for the girls.

There were many more medals and personal best times over the course of the meet, with too many highlights to mention them all. Helen McRoberts, Callum Shaw, Craig McNally, and Jennifer Dobson all featured in a host of finals, making significant improvements in their signature events with Helen and Callum joining Kyle Goodfellow and Fiona Booth to add to Warrender’s minor medal tally.

The final session was marked by the swimmers gathering together for a team photo and presentation to Ian Wright on his last day with the club. It was an emotional evening for all involved and what better way for Ian to farewell the club than with the team being runaway victors for the third time in four years.

The Warrender squad return to heavy training this week in preparation for the forthcoming British Championships in March and the Scottish Age Group Championships in April.

Medal Winners

GOLD

Lewis Smith Men’s 400 I.M. 4:21.20
Lewis Smith Men’s 200 Backstroke 1:57.23
Lewis Smith Men’s 100 I.M 0:56.29
Lewis Smith Men’s 1500 Freestyle 15:04.73
Lewis Smith Men’s 200 Breaststroke 2:13.10
Billy Purnell Men’s 200 I.M 2:02.20
Billy Purnell Men’s 50 Backstroke 0:25.81
Billy Purnell Men’s 100 Backstroke 0:55.31
Connor Wilson 15/U Boys 1500 Freestyle 16:26.75
Rachael McQueen 14/U Girls 400 I.M 5:08.92
Dan Wallace 15/U Boys 400 I.M 4:32.93
Warrender Relay Women’s 4 x 50 Medley Relay 1:58.36 (New National Team record)
Warrender Relay Women’s 4 x 50 Freestyle Relay 1:46.79
Warrender Relay Women’s 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay 3:52.79 (New National Team Record)

SILVER

Helen McRoberts Women’s 800 Freestyle 8:48.78
Fiona Booth Women’s 100 Breaststroke 1:09.63
Fiona Booth Women’s 50 Breaststroke 0:32.66
Billy Purnell Men’s 200 Backstroke 1:57.61
Billy Purnell Men’s 100 I.M. 0:56.72
Sally Wood Women’s 200 I.M. 2:15.66
Sally Wood Women’s 400 I.M. 4:48.19
Lewis Smith Men’s 400 Freestyle 3:49.75
Lewis Smith Men’s 200 Butterfly 1:59.11
Kyle Goodfellow Men’s 200 Breaststroke 2:15.16

BRONZE

Callum Shaw Men’s 50 Backstroke 0:26.55
Warrender Relay Men’s 4 x 50 Medley Relay 1:42.65
Warrender Relay Men’s 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay 3:24.30

SCOTTISH JUNIOR CHAMPIONS

Craig Benson Men’s 50 Breaststroke 0:30.02 (New 14 year old National Record)
Craig Benson Men’s 100 Breaststroke 1:04.89 (New 14 year old National Record)
Craig Benson Men’s 200 Breaststroke 2:22.47(New 14 year old National Record)
Jennifer Dobson Women’s 200 I.M. 2:18.20
Warrender Relay Women’s 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay 4:01.16


The overall Top Club points score for the meet was as follows:

1st Warrender 568
2nd Edinburgh University 278
3rd City of Glasgow 268