Six Helensburgh Amateur Swimming club swimmers qualified to compete in rounds 1 and 2 of the 2018 West District long course age group championships at East Kilbride and Tollcross International swimming centre during February. All swimmers performed very well but the girls performance was outstanding resulting in the Helensburgh girls team taking a massive leap to 7th place overall, a phenomenal achievement given that the West District is made up of 50 affiliated clubs to include the big clubs of Glasgow, East Kilbride, Renfrew and Falkirk. Sterling performances by Roisin Kavanagh and Caitriona Stewart resulted in a medal haul of 10 Gold and 4 Silver medals between them. Round 2 marked Louisa Brown’s debut at regional level with a very bold first event,the 800m freestyle, in which she returned a noteworthy performance and Mikey Miller qualified for his first west district final. Three club records were also broken, 2 by Caitriona Stewart and one by Alex Johnson.
Rosin Kavanagh swimming in the 12 year age group, secured 7 gold and 2 silver medals over the two rounds storming to first place in the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke and the 200m individual Medley, she took 2nd place in the 50m breast stroke and 50m Butterfly and also 8th place in the 100m butterfly.
Caitriona Stewart swimming in the 13 year age group secured 3 gold and 2 silver medals over the two rounds. She swam exceptionally well taking first place and gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and 50m Freestyle with silvers in the 100m Freestyle and 50m butterfly. She also secured 5th place in the 200m Breaststroke and 200m freestyle and 10th in the 100m Individual Medley. Caitriona also broke 2 club records in the female age 12-15 category; the 50m breaststroke with a time of 37.39s an improvement of 0.48s over the previous record set by her on 13,01.18 and the 50m freestyle in a time of 28.34s an improvement of 0.34s over the previous record set by Kate Storey in May 2015.
Whilst the two girls monopolised the medals strong performances were returned by the rest of the team.
Louisa Brown swimming in the 13 year age group for the first time at regional level returned an exceptionally smooth performance in the 800m freestyle completing the event in 11.22.03 securing 10th place and a massive 30.77s PB. She also secured 18th place and a 1.31s PB in the 50m freestyle.
Kirsty Trail also swimming in the 13 year age group swam well in the 50m butterfly securing 19th place and a PB of 0.18s
Mikey Miller swimming in the 12 age group secured a place in his first ever regional final in the 50m Breast stroke placing 9th. He also secured 9th place in the 100m breast stroke, 12th in the 50m and, 10th in the 100m backstroke, 13th in the 50m, 12th in the 100m and 13th in the 200m freestyle.
Alexander Johnson swimming in the 16 & over age group secured 8th place in the 400m freestyle and 11th place in the 100m butterfly. He also broke the clubs Male 16 & over 100m butterfly record previously set by Marcus Hills in May 2015 by 1.32s.
If you are interested in joining the swimming club please visit the “contact us” page on our website: helensburghasc.co.uk.
