Haddington, Musselburgh and Tranent swimming clubs made the short journey to Glenrothes for the second round of the East District Age Group Championships. After the longer distance focus on the first round in November, this time the swimmers were focusing on their 200m races.  That being said, due to a technical fault in the first round, the boys kicked off the weekend with the rescheduled 800m Freestyle, and they stepped up the challenge impressively.  Edward Alsop and Sean Craigmile, both of Haddington ASC, came away with Gold and Bronze in the individual age groups respectively, both in impressive personal best time.  Following that, the Round 2 of EDAG’s could get underway.

 

The first session saw the girls compete in the 200 Freestyle, with the boys racing the 200 Breaststroke.  The girls got the medal train rolling with Meagan Porteous (Musselburgh) winning the Gold medal in the 13yrs age group, and Louisa Stoddert (Haddington) picking up the Bronze, again in the same age group. The boys then continued the early success with a Gold, and a new Scottish age group record, for Stefan Krawiec (Tranent).  Luke Hornsey (Musselburgh) finished in the Bronze medal position in the same age group. Aiden Ballantyne (Haddington), who was racing in the 14 yrs age group, claimed the Silver medal in a tightly contested race.

 

We moved onto the afternoon on the first day and the races swapped, with the girls racing the 200 Breaststroke and the boys taking on the 200 Freestyle. Grace Courtney (Musselburgh) claimed the county’s first medal of the afternoon with a Bronze in the 11-12 yrs age group.  This was quickly followed with a Gold from Louisa Stoddart, who won her race by over 10 metres. The medal rush continued with Bridget Lemasurier (Musselburgh) and Christen Russell (Haddington) taking Silver and Bronze in the 16 yrs age group.  The boys then hit the pool for the 200 Free, with a Gold, Silver and Bronze for the East Lothian clubs as Stefan Krawiec broke another Scottish Record to take the Gold, Luke Hornsey taking the Silver, just ahead of Calum Peebles (Tranent) who claimed the Bronze. Aiden Ballantyne was back in the pool claiming his second Silver of the weekend in the 14 yrs age group and his Haddington team mate Sean Craigmile taking the Bronze medal in the 15 yrs age group to finish off the first day of racing.

 

On the Sunday morning, the boys were up first, competing in the 200 Butterfly with the girls racing the 200 Backstroke.  Stefan Krawiec took our first medal of the day, with Gold, as his training partner Luke Hornsey claimed the Silver.  Edward Alsop finished in the bronze medal position in the 16yrs age group.  The girls continued to pick up the medals, with Grace Courtney claiming her second medal of the weekend, with a Silver in the 200 Back.  Grace’s Musselburgh team mate, Bridget Lemasurier finished off the morning’s individual swims with a Bronze medal.  The morning finished on a high as once again, Musselburgh’s 11-12 Mixed relay team stormed to victory in the 4x50 Freestyle, breaking the East District record in the process.

 

The final afternoon of racing saw the boys taking on the 200 Backstroke and the girls stepping up to the challenging 200 fly.  Stefan Krawiec claimed his 4th Gold of the weekend, again closely followed by Luke Hornsey and Calum Peebles, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Sean Craigmile claimed the last medal for the boys of the weekend, with a superb silver medal in the 15yr final.  Grace Courtney smashed her final, leading from the start to take the Gold in the 200 Butterfly, with her Musselburgh team mate, Eilidh Armstrong picking up the Bronze.  Louisa Stoddart, like Grace, took command of her final, and again finished the race in the Gold medal position.

 

The three clubs between them, picked up 28 medals, had 62 final swims and set over 90 new personal best times.  Bruce Halloran, Head coach of East Lothian Swim Team said:

 

“The results have been outstanding and are a real statement of intent as we move towards the National Championships in March.  I’m delighted for the swimmers and for the clubs that they represent.  The success these swimmers are achieving is a testament to the quality of the pathway provided by East Lothian Swim Team in conjunction with our home clubs and it’s great when they are rewarded with results like these that we have seen this weekend”

 

“The third and final round of the East District Championship will be held in just under a month away, at the Commonwealth pool in Edinburgh, where we aim to better these results.”