Swimmer’s sensational freestyle win
SWIMMERS from Kintyre Amateur Swimming Club made a splash in ‘the best and noisiest gala’. An outstanding swim saw Claudia Graham’s 33.39 take the 10-yearold girls’ 50m freestyle win at the Clyde Coast mini league B final recently.
Her amazing time would probably have won this event in the A final.
The atmosphere in the Citadel Leisure Centre in Ayr was electric and certainly lived up to its reputation.
Kintyre, up against teams from Renfrew Baths, Kilmarnock, North Ayrshire, Kingston and Dumfries, made a steady start in the medley relays, picking up a valuable five points in both the girls’ and boys’ 11 years events and found themselves sitting in sixth equal place at this early stage.
In the individual events, Hannah Millar, eight, swam an excellent 25m freestyle in 20.89, finishing second, followed by 11-year-old Anna Gemmill, who also took second for Kintyre in the 100m breaststroke in 1:39.87. The Kintyre club was sitting in sixth place overall at this stage.
First place finishes for Kintyre’s Euan Charlwood in the 11-yearold boys’ 100m breaststroke in 1:31.79, and Max Graham in the nine-year-old boys’ 25m backstroke saw Kintyre’s points total rise.
Kintyre had moved up to fourth place, only three points behind Kilmarnock with 27 events still to be swum.
The youngsters from Kintyre continued to show strong swims with Josh MacDonald, eight, winning the boys’ 25m backstroke and an excellent 100m freestyle by Anna Gemmill in a time of 1:13.77, more than five seconds ahead of her nearest rival from Dumfries.
Niamh Quinn took the 25m breaststroke and Claudia Graham the 10-year-old girls’ 50m breaststroke in 46.24, with Iona Renton finishing first in the 11-year-old girls’ 100m backstroke in a time of 1:27.90.
Through event 37 Kintyre had closed the gap on Kilmarnock and was sitting in joint third place on 133 points.
In the later stages of the competition, Kintyre girls Claudia Graham, Anna Gemmill, Lara McGeachy and Iona Renton finished first in the 11-year-old girls’ 4 x 50m freestyle relay in a superb time of 2:22.22.
Kintyre finished the mini fourth league place finalon 153 in points, ahead of Dumfries and Renfrew Baths, who were fifth equal on 143. The final was won by Kingston on 207 points, with North Ayrshire in second place on 186, and Kilmarnock in third with 165. Stuart McQuaker, Kintyre’s head coach, was delighted with the team’s performance, and said: ‘Our progress over recent years in the mini league has been very pleasing, with us narrowly missing out in the B final in 2016. ‘To finally get here and compete so well with a slightly depleted squad is testament to the hard work our coaches and swimmers put in each week.’ Swimmers, coaches and parents will gather to celebrate the year’s achievements on Thursday June 29 at the Argyll Hotel with the awards night.