City of Glasgow Swim Team secure Top Club Trophy

The curtain came down on the Scottish National and Open Swimming Championships today with City of Glasgow Swim Team crowned Top Club in a very close competition with Edinburgh University. Going into the final day, the Glasgow Club had a lead of 80 points but strong swims from Edinburgh on the final evening narrowed the gap considerably.

Katie Stark started things off for Edinburgh timing her 100m freestyle final to perfection taking the title in 55.56. Emily Crane of Loughborough had taken the race out fast but Stark (Edinburgh University) stuck to her race plan, powering down the second 50m to win gold. Crane took silver in 55.68 while her Loughborough team-mate Beth Aitchison secured bronze in 56.57. Stark said of her performance,

“I was really happy with that. I’ve not been as happy with my swims the rest of the week so it was good to finish off the competition with a good swim.

“Normally I go out at a slower pace then give it all I’ve got down the second 50.”

Stark’s Edinburgh team-mates, Jack Thorpe and Kara Hanlon secured their hat-trick of titles with a third gold for Thorpe in the 200m freestyle and a third gold for Hanlon in the 50m breaststroke, while Tain Bruce also struck gold in the 200m butterfly.

Athletes from Glasgow also put in solid performances across the final events and they secured the Top Club Trophy for the first time amassing a points total of 806. Edinburgh University were a close second with 789.50, while University of Aberdeen Performance were third overall with 597.50.

Head Coach from City of Glasgow Swim Team, Ian Wright, said,

“It’s been a very good week from us; we started off surprisingly well. The heats were ok but then in the finals we had a really good session. Katie Shanahan started the meet off really well for us then others followed winning medals all the way through and it has carried on each day.”

Speaking about remaining goals for the season, Ian continued,

“Winning this title has already exceeded my expectations for the season. I think we were runners up last year but we were a long way behind Edinburgh University. I know that a lot of the big names aren’t here at this meet but I thought if we got top three again that would be good but to win is great.

“There are a lot of people involved in the Club and I’d like to thank all the other coaches and the support group of volunteers.”

Performance Director Ally Whike said of the Meet,

“There have been a number of exciting finals and racing - it has been pleasing to see some of the younger swimmers take their opportunity against the older, more experienced athletes.

“The racing has been of a high standard and the presence of Clubs from across the UK and Ireland has provided real depth and competition across all events. I’m looking forward to watching how our athletes now move their performances forward in the final Summer Meets of the long course season.”

The Top Ten Club Points were as follows:

The Berger Paints Trophy (awarded for the best performance (male or female) by a Scottish swimmer in the National Open Championship and calculated using the current FINA Points Table) went to Jack Thorpe for his performance in the 100m freestyle (825 points)

The Eileen Adams Trophy (awarded for the best combined performance in the senior men’s 200m and 400m freestyle championships using FINA points) went Martin McInnes from City of Glasgow Swim Team.

The full list of results can be found on the Swim Scotland website: http://swimscotland.co.uk/

The schedule of events can be found HERE

The draft programme can be found HERE

The event can also be followed on social media by using #SNOC18 as hashtag, as well as on Scottish Swimming’s website, www.scottishswimming.com