Medal joy for Delting Dolphin swimmers
Delting Dolphins took a squad of five swimmers to the Rens 96 open meet at the weekend and came back with a clutch of medals.
Felix Gifford swam brilliantly all weekend, gaining two golds, two silver and three bronze medals and breaking nine Shetland county records on the way.
He started the weekend by slicing three seconds from his time in the 400m freestyle to come fourth in a new open and age group record time 4.14.39. He then managed to get in the 100m breaststroke final where he came fifth, and finished sixth in the 200m breaststroke.
In he second session Felix broke his age group Shetland record 2.22.47 to come fifth in the 200m backstroke. He than swam a superb 200m individual medley (IM) to take the gold in an open and age group record time of 2.17.19. His second gold came in the 100m freestyle where he dominated the race.
The following day Felix came fifth in the 400m IM in a new open and age group record time 4.54.22.
In the 200m free he gained the silver in a new open and age group record 1.59.33, which also went through the meet record. In the final of the 100m backstroke he came third in a new PB.
In the final session Felix came third in the 200m butterfly in a new open and age group record time, and also came third in the final of the 50m freestyle. In the last final Felix was seeded first in the 100m butterfly. He swam against David Morgan and just lost out on the touch to be rewarded the silver. Again both boys went through the meet record.
Tom Raikes, also swimming well, reached the final of the 100m butterfly where he came sixth and the freestyle where he came fourth. He swam brilliantly in the 200m butterfly to produce a good PB to come third.
Rachel Southern managed to produce a PB in all her events and reached the final of the girls’ breaststroke where she came fifth. Jamie Murphy swam well in his two freestyle events, the 50m and the 100m, to get good PBs in both. Arwen Raikes was on her PBs for all her events but swam very well in the 100m butterfly to produce a good PB The swimmers said they would like to thank Liz Southern for accompanying them on the trip.
===============================
Swimmers do well in Buckie mini competition
Four young swimmers from Shetland took part in the Buckie ASC Mini Meet on Saturday – Erraid Davies from South Mainland Amateur Swimming Club and Chloe Nicolson and twins Anne and Emmie Hutchison from Lerwick Amateur Swimming Club.
The event consisted of 25 metre swims for Erraid, aged eight, and 50m swims for Anne and Emmie, 10, and Chloe, 11, in all strokes.
Erraid started the day in the eight years age group with a bronze medal in the 25m backstroke and a personal best (PB) time. She followed with a gold in her favourite stroke the butterfly after a great start, a silver and another PB in the breaststroke and and finally a silver in the freestyle in a time equaling her PB.
Emmie, swimming in the 10 years age group, won a fourth place pennant in the backstroke in a PB and later in the morning won a fifth place pennant in the butterfly. She also achieved a PB in the freestyle, gaining sixth place.
In the same age group Anne won silver in the breaststroke in a PB and bronze in the freestyle with another PB. Earlier she had achieved a PB in the butterfly, coming in seventh.
Chloe began her day with a fourth in the backstroke and a PB, with a superb turn gaining her a place. She followed with an excellent PB in the butterfly and a sixth place. In the afternoon she took three seconds off her breaststroke PB to gain a fifth place pennant. Saving her best to last she won the silver medal in the freestyle with another PB.
A club spokeswoman said the girls swam very well in an extremely competitive event with swimmers from all over the orth District.
The Lerwick swimmers said they would like to thank NorthLink Ferries, the SIC and their club for the financial support for the trip while Erraid thanked the Callum Younger Reach Fund for her funding.
