Lucky seven for outstanding Otters

Oban Otters travelled to Linwood to take part in the REN96 age group meet on Saturday – and made a big splash.

The Otters were represented by 12 swimmers aged 13 to 17, who brought home seven medals while also recording 24 personal bests.

The most decorated Otter was Rachel Carre, with the 17-year-old achieving a 50m breaststroke silver in a PB time and a bronze in the 100m breaststroke.

She added a bronze in the freestyle relay to this tally, in a team involving Alex Elliot, Andrew Boyle and Ewan Dowd. Andrew Boyle, 17, was competing in his last swim as an Otter, and he also won silver in the 100m butterfly.

His teammate, Joel Robinson, 14, achieved a PB in each of his four races, while Ewan Dowd, 17, broke the 30-second barrier in the 50m freestyle for the first time, in 29.64 seconds.

Meanwhile, the junior squad had four swimmers in action and they all beat their PB times, with Owen Stevenson in the 50m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle events.

The other PBs were recorded by Rose MacInnes and Isla Muir in the 50m backstroke and freestyle races, as well as Olivia Krolikowska in the 50m freestyle.

The Otters performance squad also amassed a string of PBs. These came from Alex Elliot in the 50m freestyle; Rachel Carre in the 200m IM, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle; Megan Carre in the 200m freestyle; Lily Robinson in the 200m IM; Ewan Dowd in the 200m and 50m freestyle; Joel Robinson in the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m and 50m backstroke; Andrew Boyle in the 100m and 200m freestyle, and Rufus Hughes in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

Team manager Alison Roger, said: “The swimmers were all absolutely fantastic.”