News

Swimmers from Edinburgh’s Warrender Baths Club are celebrating this week after being crowned the Top Club at the East of Scotland District Championships for the 10th year in succession. The Meet, held across four weekends, concluded on the weekend at the FIFE Institute of Sport in Glenrothes.

It was a great team victory for the Club. With many of the senior swimmers absent now that they have moved on to train elsewhere, it was down to the next group of potential stars to pull their weight. Making the most of their opportunity, the younger swimmers stepped up to lead the way for the Club, winning in emphatic style. Final points were Warrender 1st on 136, Carnegie 2nd on 99, INCA’s 3rd on 25, Portobello 4th on 16 and Hearts and Aquanauts joint 5th with 15 points each.

As always, there were too many great swims to mention them all, but special note must be made of Jennifer Dobson and Craig Benson who were awarded top girl and boy in the 14-15 Age Group. Both swimmers had a great weekend with Jennifer winning the 100 Backstroke (1:03.98) and 100 Fly (1:04.80) and picking up a silver medal in the 100 Breaststroke and a bronze in the 100 Freestyle. Craig won the 100 Breaststroke after setting a new Scottish Age Group Record in the heats (1:04.74) and the 100 Backstroke (1:01.10) and finished 3rd in the 100 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly.

Youngster Megan Briggs also had a big medal haul, securing gold in the 100 Backstroke (1:16.81), silver in the 100 Butterfly and bronze in the 100 Freestyle. She also played an instrumental role in helping the 10-11 Years Girls Relay Team to two gold medals in the Medley and Freestyle Relays.

Lewis Smith came back to join the club for the relays - which both won gold – and also won the 100 Butterfly after already completing a two hour training session that morning. It was enough to secure the 16/O Top Boy Award for Smith. Coach (and brother) Taylor Smith stepped in to help the 17/O Relay Team out, posting a 31.5 breaststroke split in the Medley Relay.

One of the most exciting races of the day came right near the conclusion of the final session when the 13/14 Girls Freestyle Relay won gold in a very tight finish. Anna Green led the way with a personal best of time 29.65, followed by Rachael McQueen (29.16). As Kate Forbes took her turn in the pool the team was lying about 3rd, but with a fantastic split (29.45), Kate put the team into a great position for final leg swimmer Ailsa Small to do her thing. With her do or die attitude, Ailsa (28.64) fought off the opposition until the very last stroke, just getting her hand to the wall first to hold off Midlothian, Carnegie and Hearts!

All in all, it was a fantastic team effort, and once again highlighted the strength and depth of the Club. 21 of the Club’s 30 Relay Teams picked up medals, and in fact we were the only club able to field at least one team (and often two) in every age group. Congratulations to everyone involved across the four weekends!

Swimmers return to training this week with the seniors putting in place their final preparations for the British Championships (16-20 March), and the top three squads finishing off a couple of weeks of hard training before the Scottish Age Group Championships (8-12 April).