Price wins age group championship
Three swimmers from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club recently competed at the North District Age Group Championships in Inverness.
Donnie Price, 12, was awarded the trophy for top boy age 10- 12. On his way to achieving this title he won four gold (100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle), one silver (100m breaststroke) and three bronze medals (200m breaststroke, 200m IM and 400m IM).
In the 200m backstroke he was placed fourth, in the 100m butterfly he was seventh and in the 100m backstroke he was eighth. In all but the 400m IM he produced personal best times, lowering his previously set Shetland Age Group records.
A convincing winner in the four freestyle events, Donnie was aiming for a time under 10 minutes in the 800m and was thrilled to hit the touch pad well under target in an excellent time of 9.52.68.
In other races he experienced tough challenges with his competitors being equal or faster. After Saturday afternoon’s heats of the 100m breaststroke, four boys had qualified for the evening final with only half a second between them. A tremendous race for the youngsters pushed the first three to each swim a massive two seconds faster than in the heats, with Donnie just being beaten into second place by 7/100 second.
Day two of the competition continued with plenty more events, again some with evening finals. Having knocked over two seconds off his entry time, Donnie found himself ranked in 3rd place for the 200m IM.
Determined not to lose out on a medal he swam a superb race, finished 3rd and took a further two seconds off his PB, his biggest improvement of the weekend.
South Mainland’s other swimmers who had qualified for the championships for the first time, were Darin Eldridge, 11, and Sarah Keay, 12. Only a few 11 year olds were competing, and Darin swam very well in his five races. He had a brilliant two second PB in the 100m freestyle finishing in 1.10.59. His 200m breaststroke was his highest placed event – he finished 11th – and his remaining events were all on entry times.
Due to illness, Sarah reduced her events to just three: 100m free, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly. All three races left her exhausted but she had performed tremendously well to finish each just a fraction of a second outside PBs.
South Mainland ASC would like to express their thanks and appreciation of the support and sponsorship towards this trip, given by NorthLink, Mainlands, Dunrossness Community Council and Sandwick Community Council.
