Portobello Amateur Swimming Club

Congratulations to our 11 swimmers who have qualified for finals day at Scottish Schools Champs at the end of Jan (Sat 30th @ Tollcross). Ellie (50m back) and Katie (100m breast) have both qualified in the top half dozen times in their event and JJ, Rory M and Gavin have all qualified for two finals each.

Our other finalists are Rory W (200 IM), Zoe and Emma (50m breast), Rory G (100m fly), John (100m back) and Daniel (reserve in 100m free). Raquel, Chris and Niall have also qualified so we will have a good presence at the Champs in Jan.

This year we reverted to the all inclusive format, so the event was open to all swimmers. That meant we had swimmers from 7 (Erin) to 40+ and included numerous water polo players and a game mum (well done Adele, it was very brave to compete against your four kids).

11 heats produced some excellent swims, none more so than Morgan who won her heat by a mile making a mockery of her initial handicap. There were several families who produced great results, especially the Urquharts, Gallachers and McKays who all had two swimmers in the semi finals. Some of the best PBs in the heats were from Bethany, Erin B, Iona, Nicole, Ciara, Michelle, Fraser M, Ryan and Rory M.

We then had five semi-finals with only the winner progressing to the final. This resulted in even closer races as the handicaps were revised after the first round. Once again Morgan won her race, as did Iona, Laura, Rory G and Nielson (who won a very quick race in 26.5 secs).

The final was a great spectacle, with little Morgan (only 8) competing against two 12 year olds, a 13 yr old and a 30 something giant of water polo. The bronze medal went to Laura with another excellent PB, Neilson took the silver (despite going under 26.5 in the final) and the champion this year is Rory G who swam out of his skin going under 30 secs for the first time.

Many thanks to the parents who came to support an add to the atmosphere and to the time keepers who helped the evening run so well. Finally, a huge thanks to Jack who kept everyone right and to Jeanette who kept the results in order and made sure we allocated the appropriate new handicaps.

The second round of the event saw us win our first medal of this season’s championships. Ellie swam a fantastic 9 sec PB to take the silver in the 200m back and she was closing the gap on the eventual winner all the way through the final 50m. JJ had another excellent day, making the qualifying final of the 100m fly and then finishing 3rd with a great PB to qualify for the finals weekend - that’s now five Portobello boys in the finals session in the 14/15 yrs 100m fly.

Nieve also had a great weekend, securing her 400m free bronze squad time for next year to become our first swimmer to obtain a complete set for 2010/11. The older boys producd some strong 400m free swims too, with John, Rory M and Niall all swimming excellent PBs. Other good PBs came from Rory W in the 200m breast and Ciara in the 200m back.

More silverware for Portobello as the swimmers retained the Haddington President’s Trophy with an excellent team performance. We won by a bigger margin than last year using more swimmers so congratulations go to the whole team. Top points scorers were Stuart and Kate and biggest PBs went to Jade, Megan, Jamie, Rosanna and Stuart.

Its a dificult meet to follow as a spectator as the time bands can result in the ‘winner’ of a heat scoring no points whilst the 2nd or 3rd placed swimmer picks up maximum points. That said, we led right from start and when the points were announced after the fly we were the top team. That lead grew as each stroke was completed and by the end we won comfortably.

Many thanks to the parents who came to cheer on the team and special thanks go to those swimmers who only had one swim but who competed really well and contributed valuable points to the team score.

Last weekend we had the annual Scottish cup finals at Tollcross in Glasgow and I am delighted to report that we had Portobello success.  Portobello and Warrender entered a combined team in the Under 15 competion, (the majority of the team were Portobello boys), and are Scottish champions!!!  They beat Dunfermline 13-12 in the semi-final on Saturday and beat Hamilton quite easily on Sunday.  This is the first time Portobello have won a “junior” competition for approx. 25yrs so big well done to all.  Thanks to the parents who helped with transport/came to support and to Fraser Rutherford for coaching.  Well done boys-excellent stuff!!!

 

The senior team won their respective competion for the 13th time in the past 14yrs so double champions for Portobello, they beat Dunfermline on Saturday and Menziehill in the final on Sunday.

Our annual 1500m event was held on Saturday with over 30 swimmers competing for the Ned Barnie trophy. It is run as a handicapped event, so each swimmer is trying to beat their estimated time and the winner is the person who does so by the biggest margin.

In terms of actual times swum, the three fastest boys were Gavin, Andrew and James whilst the three quickest girls were Raquel, Kate and Fi. However, the prizes are for beating the handicapper’s estimates and the winner was Rosanna with Jade and Zoe tied in equal second. There were several other excellent swims, including Nieve, Laura (last year’s winner), JJ, Kathryn, Emma C and Emma H who broke the 30 min mark aged only 9. Our newest member Morgan was the youngest finisher and three of our other youngsters ( Anna, Stuart and Roy) all completed an 800m swim.

Another exciting, noisy night of swimming in the Novice League (Coverdale Cup). It was our turn to host the races and the gallery was very busy with enthusiastic parents and friends. The kids were great, encouraging their team mates and trying to remember which stroke they were about to swim. We had quite a lot of swimmers who went too fast for the time band so it looks like all that training is working well.

Caitlyn, Isobel, Rosa, Kenzie, Ailsa, Sophie, Jenna, Joanne, Anna, Jack and Lewis all finished in the top half of their events and scored lots of points. Bethany, Megan, Mhairi, Lucy, Laura, Lauren, Monica, Abbie, Roy, Ben all swam so fast that they didn’t score points but they got excellent PBs. The relay teams did really well, with all three freestyle teams scoring good points.

Many thanks to all of our helpers who worked hard to make sure the evening ran smoothly and also to the pool staff who arranged everything that we needed.

The position is the league after two rounds is very close so there should be more exciting racing at Musselbugh in Jan;

Cummulative totals

 Tranent            386.5

Portobello            379.5

Haddington            369.5

Musselburgh            280.5

A big team attended this meet, despite numerous injury related withdrawls. We recorded a huge number of PBs and a dozen swimmers competed in finals of various events. Raquel made a total of 9 finals, won 4, took 4 second places and a 4th meaning that she was awarded the Best Girl trophy in her age group. JJ and Niall both had excellent weekends and they both made 8 finals with Niall collecting two medals of each colour and JJ winning a silver and three bronzes. Will also did well, collecting 2 silvers and 4 bronzes. Our final medal went to Gavin, who won a bronze in a very tough age group.

James, Katie, Emma C and Rory M all made finals in different events and Anna C, Chris and Kate each had one top 6 finish.  Also, several swimmers secured bronze squad times for next year’s qualifications. Nieve, Emma C, Katie and JJ all reached the qulaifying times in two different events and Rory M got his 200m back time.

Thanks go to the various officials and coaches who represented the club, especially Lindsay who was there all weekend.

We had almost 40 swimmers competing in this year’s schools championships and several others who could have been competing were either injured or swam in other areas. From that excellent entry we won a total of 26 individual medals and 20 medals in the relays (mostly for Portobello High who won medals in 4 different events).

Gavin and Raquel led the way, each winning both of their events. Rory W and James both won a gold and a bronze and Zoe, Ellie and Katie all went home with a gold medal. JJ and Rory M picked up two silvers, Jenny and John both won a silver and a bronze and Nicole, Chris, Sam and Rory G all won a silver. Ryan, Kate, Nieve and Robyn all collected a bronze medal. Finally, Emma C and Will both competed in the East Lothian Schools event and Emma in particular had a very good day.

Well done to everyone who competed and we now wait to discover which swimmers have qualified for the Scottish finals in Glasgow in Jan. To be eligible, you must finish in the top 3 in your area (Edinburgh for most of us) and then be in the top 20 from all entries across Scotland.

Another great afternoon at Peebles, though this time we returned without a trophy but with heaps of medals. Unfortunately we were missing a boy and then poor Sam was very unwell and had to go home so we were two down. Special thanks go to Liall who turned up to help the team by swimming in the 10 yrs age group despite being only 9 and then he didn’t get his gold in the team relay as we were mistakenly recorded as having an incomplete team.
  We did win lots of individual medals, with the girls leading the way. Emma C and Ellie each won two golds, Emma H won a gold and a silver, Anna C won two silvers, Ciara won a silver and a bronze, Lewis won a silver with Eilidh, Ben and Ryan all winning a bronze each.
  The relays were difficult due to the missing swimmers but the 9 and under team (Eilidh, Emma H, Ben and Lewis) won gold and bronze in their events and the 10 yrs team mysteriously were awarded bronze in the medley. Sadly, due to an error on the start sheet our team relay squad (Emma H, Ben, Ellie, Liall, Emma C + Ryan) missed out on the medals despite being the fastest team.
  Thanks go to our team of coaches and supporters who squashed into a very small space and cheered every swimmer and relay team.