Starting With A Splash
2024 has started with a splash for REN96 - Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire’s largest swimming club - with their first weekend of competitions resulting in 45 gold medals, 41 silver medals, 34 bronze medals, 29 top 6 places, 2 top of age group finishes and a Top Club award!
First to dive in were REN96’s Masters squad who travelled all the way to compete in Aberdeen on Saturday, with Lynn and Doug finishing top of their age groups and REN96 finishing a fantastic 9th out of 54 clubs.
On Saturday and Sunday, 45 REN96 Performance, Age Group and Development squad swimmers headed east for the East Lothian Age Group Meet, with everybody keen to get back competing after the festive season break. Coach Calum said “It was a very successful meet for REN96 with swimmers happy to step outside their comfort zone to accept the challenge of swimming fast in a new environment, against swimmers from outside their own district. REN96 can be hugely proud of this achievement and I hope our swimmers will use this weekend as a stepping stone towards a fantastic 2024 season.” REN96 finished with an impressive 35 gold medals, 24 silver medals and 23 bronze medals along with many top 10 places and personal best (PB) times. With these results it was no surprise that REN96 was awarded the Top club award for the team who scored the most points accumulated over the weekend. Ten year old Jack delivered the standout performance of the weekend by setting 8 PBs on his way to winning 7 medals, including gold in an epic 400m freestyle victory - well done Jack.
Meanwhile, on Sunday back in the west on home territory, 48 junior swimmers competed at the On-x in the one-day Winter development meet held by Renfrew Baths Swimming Club. The team were outstanding, winning 10 gold medals, 17 silver medals and 11 bronze medals with another 29 top 6 places and many PBs. Coach Adam said “While the medals were great, what made the coaches proud was the skill level from our swimmers across the board on all 4 strokes. It was also great to see the amount of swimmers cheering their teammates on and the smiles from swimmers after smashing their PBs!"
All of the efforts and skills of the swimmers would come to nothing without the network of support behind them, so REN96 swimmers would like to thank coaches Euan, Michelle, Adam, Calum and Paul; team managers Martyn, Lindsay, Lesley, Angela and Michelle and all the parent volunteers who helped over the weekend.
Allan Kelly for Ren96
