Thurso’s Emma in the medals
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EIGHT Thurso swimmers travelled to Aberdeenshire for the Westhill Invitational on May 5 and 6 when they competed against high-calibre competitors, including Olympic swimmer Hannah Miley, from Garioch.
At this meet, finals are held for the 50m freestyle and the 100m events only.
Thurso Amateur Swimming Club member Emma Budge (14) had a very successful weekend achieving five personal bests, qualifying for four finals and winning two silver and one bronze medals.
Emma’s first event in the 14-to-15-years age group was the 200m freestyle. Her time of 2.13.79 was a new PB and saw her finish in fourth place. This was followed in session one by the 100m breaststroke which saw her finish in seventh.
For Emma, session two started with the 100m backstroke. Her impressive swim in the qualifiers saw her reach the final in second place, fractionally behind Eilidh Duthie, from Aberdeen Dolphins.
The final was just as exciting with Eilidh managing to stay ahead of Emma by less than 0.12 of a second to hang on to first, while Emma’s second-place finish saw her win her first silver medal of the weekend with a new club record of 1.06.09.
Emma’s last swim of day one was the 50m free. A PB of 28.80 in the heats saw her qualify for the final in sixth place. Emma went one better in her finals swim, moving up to finish fifth in what was a very competitive field.
The 200m back was Emma’s first event of day two. Emma and Eilidh continued their competition of the previous day with another close race.
Eilidh won the final, winning by the narrowest of margins from Emma who achieved both a new club record and a silver medal in this event, finishing in a time of 2.22.03, an improvement of over two seconds on her previous best. Both girls were over 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The 100m free was next. Emma’s qualifiers’ swim saw her get into the final in third place. Her competition with Eilidh continued in what was another exciting race. The final result saw Eilidh finish in silver-medal-winning position in a time of 1.02.12 and Emma taking bronze in a time of 1.02.35. Emma also competed in the 200m individual medley and the 400m free, finishing in sixth and seventh respectively to round off a very successful weekend.
Jordan Bain and Craig Mackay (both 12) were Thurso’s youngest swimmers. They competed in the 12-to-13-years age group along with Craig Yuille (13). Jordan did well to qualify for seven events and despite his best efforts on this occasion he failed to get a PB, although he swam close in the 50m free.
Craig Mackay swam in 10 events, a phenomenal amount over two days, and achieved an impressive seven PBs, the most notable being in the 100m breaststroke (1.35.36), the 50m fly (39.23) and the 200m butterfly, where his time of 3.21.67 was a nine-second improvement.
Craig Yuille continued his good form over his seven events, reaching two finals in the process. His strongest events were the 100m breaststroke, in which he qualified for the final in fourth place and narrowly missed out on the medals, retaining this position in the final; the 200m breaststroke, where he finished in fifth; the 100m free, where he narrowly missed out on a PB in both the qualifiers and the finals, finishing again in fifth place overall; and the 200m back where he achieved a new PB of 2.40.42 improving by over two seconds.
Special mention must be made of Craig’s 100m free final swim which was a very close and exciting race. Cameron Arnott, from Cults Otters, was the clear winner. However, only 0.2 of a second separated the second and fifth-placed swimmers so it really was all on the touch.
Euan Bremner and Jamie Mackinnon (both 14) were Thurso’s two representatives in the boys 14-to-15 age group. Euan swam consistently well in his four events achieving three PBs and narrowly missing out on the fourth. His times were 50m back, 34.29; 50m free, 29.00; and 100m free, 1.04.03. Jamie was not able to hit his recent form in the 100m events but he continued his good form in the 50m butterfly event with a time of 30.86 for this swim, a personal best of over two seconds.
The oldest team members were Shaun Davidson and Rorie Stewart (both 16) who were competing in the 16-and-over age group.
Shaun was the only Thurso swimmer to achieve PBs in every one of his swims. They came in the 50m back (37.18); 100m breaststroke (1.23.00); 50m fly (31.98); 200m breaststroke (3.04.08), a personal best by over five seconds; 50m free (30.65); 50m breaststroke (38.33) and the 100m fly (1.12.69).
Rorie achieved six PBs from eight swims beginning with the 100m breast (1.16.81) for a seventh-place finish, 200m IM (2.31.44), 50m fly (30.66), 50m free (28.13), 50m breaststroke (35.68) and 100m free (1.02.25).
