Road to Dundee pays off as Felix returns with four medals
DELTING Dolphins swimmer Felix Gifford came home with four medals from the 100/200 meet at Dundee last weekend.
He was one of three Dolphins members travelling to the event, which attracted many of Scotland’s international swimmers.
Felix won two golds, a silver and a bronze in the 13/14 age group, and was not outside the top five in any event. He took four Shetland age group records and one meet record.
His first event was the 200m backstroke, where he took eight seconds from his PB to come fifth. The 100m breaststroke came next, and Felix was on his PB to win a place in the final. In the 200m freestyle he led from the start to win his first gold medal, breaking both the Shetland and meet record with 2.03.30. This was followed by the final of the 100m breaststroke in which he came fourth.
In the second session Felix took the bronze and broke another Shetland record with 2.23.93 in the 200m IM. Next he swam the 100m butterfly and easily gained a place in the final, where he won the silver medal.
On Sunday Felix began the day with a 100m freestyle swim to rank him first in the final. In the 200m butterfly he swam a determined race to come fourth in a new Shetland record time of 2.24.48. The meet record for this event was broken by the first four swimmers.
The eagerly awaited 100m freestyle final was next for Felix who again impressed all by going out from the beginning to win the gold in another Shetland record time of 56.73.
The final session saw Felix swim well in the backstroke to reach the final while in the 200m breaststroke he took nine seconds off his PB to come fifth. In his last final, the 100m backstroke, he came fifth in a new PB.
Tom Raikes, in the competitive 15-and-over age group, swam very well. His best event was the 100m butterfly where he reached the final and came fifth. He also swam a PB in his 100m backstroke.
The only girl travelling, Arwen Raikes, managed PBs in the 200m backstroke, with nine seconds off her time, the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.
