Olympic heroine Hannah inspires swimmers at Commonwealth Pool

Mar 12 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian’s most promising swimmers jumped in at the deep end last week when they came up against an opponent of Olympian proportions.

Olympic finalist Hannah Miley was in stunning form at the Edinburgh International at the Royal Commonwealth Pool as she won every heat and final in the seven events she entered and took first in all four of the skins sprint competition.

Hannah is a swimmer at the very top of her sport and her superb display would have inspired the watching Swim West Lothian athletes who saw what it takes to reach her level.

The on-form squad did not disappoint as day one saw Kirsten Dippie claim the county’s first final spot in the Girls’ 15-16 Breaststroke.

Holly Ross's return from injury was marked with a slot in the Women's 200 Freestyle Final and she was unlucky to be pipped into fourth place by four tenths of a second.

Allie McGowan continued her run of form when a fifth in the Backstroke ensured a place in the Skins Knockout Sprint Competition later in the evening.

As is now encouragingly becoming the norm, the younger swimmers were not to be outdone as Dean Strachen was first to lift a medal with a bronze in the 11-12 Boys’ Breaststroke.

Jamie Coulter managed to go one better in the 15-16 Boys Butterfly when he lifted the prize money for second.

Andrew Hosie and Taylor Feeney also made finals in the evening. And a productive first day was rounded off with the women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team lifting bronze.

Day two gave similar results as the West Lothian athletes staked claims in final after final with medal performances from James Black in the 11-12 Backstroke and the women's relay team raising their game to take silver in the Medley Relay.

As some of the other teams wilted on day three the county swimmers grew stronger and were in more than half of the finals, most notably when Aillie MaGowan swam into second place not far behind Olympian Miley.

Coulter showed his mettle as he managed to stay in the Skins Sprints for five consecutive rounds of the men's 50 fly before being overpowered by physical maturity when 22-year-old Ian McMillan from Edinburgh took the cash.