Portobello Amateur Swimming Club

Well done to everyone who competed at this year’s Hearts Novice. We had 14 swimmers in the competition (Eilidh, Lucy T, Louise, Rosa, Lucy H, Melissa, Kirsty, Joanne, Isobel, Lauren, Ryan, Jamie and Aaron) and 4 of them won medals in a very competitive meet. Ryan won a gold in the breast, Melissa and Lucy H both won silvers in the free with Kirsty taking a bronze in the free and Melissa a bronze in the breast.
  Many thanks to Brian and Stewart for managing the team and also thanks to the parents for getting the swimmers to the gala through all of the marathon day traffic and road closures.

Our first ever 2 day meet outside Scotland was a huge success for all concerned. The new pool at Sunderland was superb, the weather was unbelieveable (so we finished the weekend with some games on the beach before coming home) and the accomodation worked out really well for us (once John Macp persuded them to open earlier for breakfast).
  In the pool we had some excellent swims including a new SCOTTISH RECORD for Caitlin in the 50m free and a DISTRICT RECORD for Chris in the 200m breast (the previous record was held by Gav so we’re keeping it in the club). Chris and Caitlin were equal top of the Porty medals table, both winning 2 golds and a bronze. Ciaran also took a gold and added two bronzes. Raquel came close but had to settle for 3 silvers and a bronze. Niall won a silver and 2 bronzes, JJ won a silver with Gav and Cammy both winning a bronze. A further 8 swimmers took top 6 places so we had 16 different swimmers scoring points for the club. At the end of the weekend, we finished 7th in the top club race, out of around 40 clubs.
  The majority of our swims were PBs, with 5 swimmers (Abby, Kate, Katie, Cammy and Scott) all recording a PB in every swim and several people achieved bronze squad times. In particular, Ciaran got the 200m IM to give him a full set, Clare got the 400m free leaving her with just one to go and Abby got her breaststoke time and Cammy his 200m free time after a weekend of huge effort. Rory W got another one (200m back) so now just needs a 400m time and several people beat bronze squad times that they already hold.  
   The Sunderland club have advised us that they be running this gala again next year so make sure you get involved when the time comes round. Thanks to the huge effort from the coaches (John, John and Lindsay) and also the numerous parents who were on hand to help in all manner of ways.