West Dunbartonshire Amateur Swim Club members have been making waves after some impressive performances in recent meets in Edinburgh, Bathgate and East Kilbride.

At the Scottish National Short Course Open Championships on December 11-13, 11 swimmers Chloe Barclay, Carl Barrett, Kirsten Barrett, Daniel Connolly, Mariella Harris, Marcus Hills, Michael Irwin, Megan Kerr, Alasdair Lannigan, David McRobert, Greg Watson from the club accompanied by head coach Jimmy Orr went to The Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.

There was standout performance from all involved with new personal bests set across the board.

The club had two relay teams involved in the competition in both the male 200mm Medley & 200mm Freestyle events and despite great efforts from both teams no medals were won.

A selection of results were as follows:

Chloe Barclay: 6th 50m Female Backstroke. Bronze Female 100m Backstroke. 6th Female 200m Backstroke.

Short Course Age Group 16 & Over Club Record and Overall Club Broken by:

Chloe Barclay: 50m Backstroke in a time of 28.84S.

Chloe Barclay: 100m Backstroke in a time of 1:01.14S.

Chloe Barclay: 100m Backstroke in a time of 2:13.19S.

These times for Chloe were all new West Districts records as well.

Short Course Age Group 14-14 Club Record Broken by:

Carl Barrett: 50m ButterButterfly in a time of 28.05S.

Twenty-nine swimmers, accompanied by Head Coach Jimmy Orr took part in the First Open Meet at the Xcite Leisure Centre in Bathgate on January 9-11.

The swimmers who travelled to Bathgate for this 2 day event were: Carl Barrett, Kirsten Barrett, Sam Bisset, Fraser Boyd, Jamie Boyd, Declan Boylan, Charlie Bridges, Daniel Connolly, Tony Connolly, Adam Craig, Carlene Dickson, Mariella Harris, Megan Kerr, Alasdair Lannigan, Kara MacDonald, Murrin Markwick, David McRobert, Joanne Mullen, Heather Murdoch, Daniel Murray, Alanna Reid, Jamie Reid, Niamh Reid, Jimmy Smyth, Roland Smyth, Clare Sweeney, Hannah Thomson, Abby Tyson and Isla Walker.

This was a very successful meet for West Dunbartonshire. Jimmy Orr was impressed with the quality of swimming after the festive break and pleased that so many of the swimmers took home medals as rewards for their hard work.

Results were as follows:

Carl Barrett: Bronze 50m 14-15 Butterfly. Bronze 14-15 200m Breaststroke. 5th 14-15 200m Individual Medley. 4th 14-15 200m Freestyle. 4th 14-15 200m Butterfly. Bronze 14-15 100m Backstroke. Silver 14-15 100m Individual Medley

Kirsten Barrett: Bronze 14-15 200m Backstroke. 6th 14-15 50m Backstroke. 4th 14-15 100m Backstroke. 4th 14-15 100m Individual Medley.

Sam Bisset: 6th 14-15 200m Breaststroke. Bronze 14-15 50m Breaststroke. 6th 14-15 50m Freestyle.

Declan Boylan: Bronze Male 16 & Over 400m Freestyle.

Daniel Connolly: Silver 16 & Over 100m Butterfly. 4th 16 & Over 200m Butterfly.

Tony Connolly: Silver 16 & Over 50m Breaststroke. 6th 16 & Over 100m Butterfly. 5th 16 & Over 50m Freestyle.

Carlene Dickson: 4th 16 & Over 50m Breaststroke. 4th 16 & Over 50m Freestyle.

Mariella Harris: 5th 14-15 50m Butterfly. Bronze 14-15 50m Backstroke. Bronze 14-15 50m Breaststroke. Silver 14-15 50m. Freestyle Silver 14-15 100m Individual Medley.

Megan Kerr Silver: 16 & Over 50m Backstroke.

Alasdair Lannigan: Gold Male 16 & Over 50m Butterfly. 5th 16 & Over 50m Backstroke. 5th 16 & Over 100m Butterfly.

David McRobert: Bronze 16 & Over 200m Backstroke. 4th 16 & Over 50m Backstroke.

Heather Murdoch: 4th 16 & Over 50m Butterfly. 4th 16 & Over 100m Breaststroke. 5th 16 & Over 50m Breaststroke.

Jimmy Smyth: 6th 16 & Over 50m Freestyle. 4th 16 & Over 100m Backstroke.

Clare Sweeney: 5th 8-11 50m Butterfly. 6th 8-11 100m Butterfly.

Hannah Thomson: 6th 12-13 100m Breaststroke. 5th 12-13 50m Breaststroke.

Isla Walker Bronze: 8-11 100m Breaststroke. Bronze 8-11 200m Breaststroke. Gold 8-11 50m Breaststroke.

Short Course Age Group 14-14 Club Record Broken by:

Carl Barrett: 200m Butterfly 2:26.82S.

15 swimmers attended the Dollan Aqua Centre for two days of competition at the 2016 West District Championships

Those swimmers were: Chloe Barclay, Carl Barrett, Kirsten Barrett, Sam Bisset, Mariella Harris, Marcus Hills, Megan Kerr, Murrin Markwick, Daniel Murray, Jamie Reid, Niamh Reid, Hannah Thomson, Abby Tyson, Isla Walker and Greg Watson

Despite the snowy conditions over the weekend the swimmers certainly turned up the heat in the pool with some fantastic swims. For the 1st round of the West Districts Head Coach Jimmy Orr was again on hand to offer words of advice and encouragement to the swimmers and was again impressed with the continued excellent performances from the WDASC swimmers.

Dollan Aqua Centre offers a 50m competition pool which gave the swimmers the opportunity to improve on their long course times as opposed to the more regular 25m short course times that many swimmers are used to. Every swimmer took full advantage of this and the results were impressive.

Chloe Barclay, Carl Barrett and Greg Watson were three of the older swimmers participating in this event to take home well deserved gold medals from the West Districts, but congratulations also go to one of the younger swimmers Daniel Murray aged 12 who continued his recent successes in the pool taking home both a gold and silver medal.

Results were as follows:

Chloe Barclay: Gold Female 50m Backstroke.

Carl Barrett: 4th Male 15-15 100m Freestyle Gold Male 15-15 50m Butterfly.

Mariella Harris: 6th 15-15 50m Butterfly.

Marcus Hills: 5th 16 & Over 100m Freestyle.

Megan Kerr: 5th 16 & Over 50m Backstroke. 6th 16 & Over 50m Backstroke.

Daniel Murray: Silver 13-13 200m Breaststroke. Gold 13-13 100m Breaststroke.

Greg Watson: Gold 16 & Over 50m Backstroke. 5th 16 & Over 100m Breaststroke.

Again as with all the competitions that WDASC take part in it would not be the same without the parents and supporters. Whether the kids can hear them or not while they stand on the block waiting to start their race, you’ll always hear a “GO WESTIES” from the spectators stand, starting off what always seems an endless stream of encouragement for the swimmers as they continue to do their best.