Scottish National Age Group Swimming Championships 2024
The Scottish National Age Group Swimming Championships (or ‘SNAGS’) is always an exciting experience for everyone involved as it is the first national championship of the year and it is the premier age group meet of the season.
To qualify for this meet is a huge achievement and REN96 - Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire’s largest swimming club - had an amazing 36 swimmers competing, ranging from 11 to 18 year olds, from the club’s Senior Performance, Age Group and Development squads. This was double the number of REN96 swimmers who competed at SNAGS 2023 and, with 8 swimmers competing for the first time on the national stage, shows the excellent progress the club has continued to make over the past 12 months.
Throughout the week, REN96 swimmers delivered incredible performances across a total of 159 individual swims, achieving 90 personal best times and a further 22 season best times. With 39 top-10 finishes REN96 ended the week with a fantastic haul of 5 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 9 bronze medals, making SNAGS 2024 the most successful age group championships ever for the club.
REN96’s Head Coach Ross McCafferty said “Massive congratulations go to everyone who competed at SNAGS. It is great to see that our swimmers are not only comfortable racing on the national stage but also use this platform to perform at their highest level. We finished 12th in the top club table, meaning breaking in to the top-10 next year is within our grasp and this makes us more motivated to continue to improve and achieve this long-term goal for the club.
Although great results depend on the swimmers’ hard work and dedication, they couldn’t achieve them without the excellent support from across the club, including from the 4 coaches who supported them all week and the remaining coaches back at the club, who work with them throughout the year. Our SNAGS team manager - Lindsay Jeffords - made sure our swimmers were organised and supported throughout the week and our 2 technical officials represented REN96 - without these volunteers, events like SNAGS would not go ahead. Our swimmers, teams, supporters and volunteers were all fantastic and it is a privilege and honour to work with such talented and committed people.”
Allan Kelly for REN96
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