First of all I would like to congratulate Carniege Swim Club on toppling Warrander Bath’s  twelve year run as Top Club at East Districts. Keep up the good work guys.

On the home front Portobello had a very successful East Districts

Just a small portion of the numerous PB’s from this weekend:

Emma Hogarth: 5.46 seconds PB in the 100 Fly and a 4.48 second PB in her 100 Back.
JJ: 1.66 seconds PB in his 100 Back and a 3.17 second 100 Fly PB to go with a 1 second PB on his 100 Brst.
Ellie: 1.64 seconds PB in her 100 Fly
Benji:  2.40 off his 100 Back PB and 1.98 off his 100 Breast PB
Anna: 1.62 off her 100 Brst
Scott: 1.39 off his 100 Fly PB
Ciaran: Over a second off his 100 fly time and 1.92 off his 100 Back

 

The biggest shock of the weekend came in the form of Iona Hamilton’s incredible 100 Brst Heat and Final Swims.

Iona Hamilton has come along way in her swimming career over the last 3 months or so. In December 2011 Iona went a 1:18.34 100 Brst at the Mitchell Meet in Inverness, over 7 seconds faster than she went this time last year. She then went on to beat her time at the Scottish National Short Course with a Final time of  1:18.07.

She has not had it all her own way as many of you will be aware, recent weeks Iona has struggled (her words not mine) to find her form at meets. So I will be honest, I was not sure which Iona was going to be entering the 100 Brst Heat at East Districts.  What I witnessed prior to her race was a confident, focused athlete with one thing on her mind, she had cleared her head of her swims prior to this and was ready to swim hard (regardless of time). My only clear instruction was that she could not miss her last pull out, something Iona has become rather famous for.  The starter set them off and 1:15.74 seconds later it was over (for Iona anyway), big smile on her face and a daft looking coach jumping around like a Looney, because she swam fast? No, well ok yes but I was mainly celebrating the fact that she had managed to complete all her pull outs.

A 2.33 second PB in the bag. 

Final: With the Porty contingent emphatically cheering her on Iona again readied herself for the final. Not having it her own way Iona was hounded all the way by her fellow finalist, she hung on in and claimed East District Gold in a new PB time of 1:15.26. A whole ten seconds faster than her time in January 2011.

Iona’s time puts her in the Number 1 spot in the Scottish National Rankings for 14yr old girls and
4th in British rankings for the 100 Brst SC.
2nd in Scotland and in the top 10 in Britain for the 15 year old age group.

 

Great Work PORTY!