South Lanarkshire Clinch Top Club Award in Thrilling Finale at Tollcross

"I must give all credit to the swimmers, they have all been magnificent this week raising their game with every race." Andy Figgins, Lead Coach, South Lanarkshire Swimming

Only 20 points separated the top two clubs going into the final day of competition at the Scottish National Age Group Championships at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, with South Lanarkshire and Warrender determined to fight it out until the very end.

With athletes from both clubs making regular appearances on the podium there was great suspense until the points were finally read out and South Lanarkshire Swimming were confirmed as the winners, for the first time, with 1036 points to Warrender’s 962 points.

Speaking after the presentation, Andy Figgins, Lead Coach of South Lanarkshire was full of praise to everyone involved. He said,

“I am absolutely delighted. I must give all credit to the swimmers, they have all been magnificent this week raising their game with every race.  They’ve also had immense support from all the coaches and I couldn’t be happier.

“I would like to thank Scottish Swimming and everyone involved with these Championships for putting on such a fantastic event.”

Other performances to note included Anna Fleming (City of Glasgow Swim Team) who broke her own Scottish Junior record in the 50m butterfly (16 years age group) and in doing so the National Age Group Record (15 years). She finished in 27.71 improving on the 27.97 she posted at last month’s Edinburgh International.

Keanna MacInnes (Heart of Midlothian) broke the National Age Group Record (14yrs) in the 50m butterfly touching home in 28.35 while Mark Ford (South Lanarkshire) broke the National Age Group Record (12yrs) in the 50m backstroke with a time of 31.06. Katie Robertson (South Ayrshire Swim Team) was another record breaker with a new National Age Group Record (14 years) in the 100m breaststroke posting a time of 1:11.58.

Alan Lynn, National Coach at Scottish Swimming, commented,

“I’m very encouraged with the performances of our swimmers at SNAGs. The racing at individual and team level has been terrific and hotly contested throughout the week. Particularly pleasing has been the quality of technique and competitive skills, something we have asked the coaches and swimmers to emphasise. Although setting personal best times is the objective for most age group swimmers, learning how to swim more efficiently and effectively is an important lesson to take from this Meet.

“I’m always impressed with the resilience of the swimmers over 5 long days of competition and they were all still racing strong through the final day. With our well-publicised push to support and inspire our female swimmers through Project Ailsa, it was great to see some excellent swims from the girls.”

“Several multi-event winners, girls and boys, emerged from SNAGs and we will see many of them competing at Tollcross again in a couple of weeks as they join their senior counterparts at the Olympic Trials.”

Best Performance by a boy 16 years and under went to Ryan Retson (FIRST) for his 200m IM while Best Performance by a girl 16 years and under was awarded to Anna Fleming (City of Glasgow Swim Team) for her 50m fly. These are based on FINA points in a single event.

Top Club Points:

Club	Points
South Lanarkshire Swimming	1036
Warrender Baths Club	962
City of Glasgow Swim Team	724.5
City of Aberdeen Swim Team	610.5
FIRST	428
Hearts	418
Swim West Lothian	395
North Lanarkshire Swim Team	377.5
South Ayrshire Swim Team	354.5
Dumfries Dolphins	267

 

The full results service from the meet can be found at http://www.swimscotland.co.uk/meets16/snags/index.htm

The Scottish National Age Groups Championships has attracted over 1000 athletes and the event runs until 3 April with the evening session (finals) being streamed live at www.scottishswimming.com/live.

Photos from Day 5 of the event can be found on our Flickr page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishswimming/albums/72157666172510260

More information about the event and daily summary reports can be found athttp://www.scottishswimming.com/snags or www.facebook.com/scottishswimming

The event can also be followed on social media by using #SNAGS2016 as hashtag, as well as on Scottish Swimming’s website, www.scottishswimming.com.