Helensburgh Amateur Swimming Club competitors Alex Johnson, Kate Story and Gail Craig represented the club as part of the Argyll and Clyde swimming team at the Scottish National Open Championships.

The competition was held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool Edinburgh from December 9 to 11.

hosted swimmers from 90 clubs from across the UK and Europe from as far afield as Denmark and Belgium.

The competition has no age groupings so the Helensburgh swimmers were competing directly against Olympic medallists, Team GB members and a wide variety of university teams.

Alex Johnson did exceptionally well to qualify for the event and was one of the youngest swimmers competing. The 14-year-old’s first event was the 400m freestyle.

He had a great swim to knock 2.22 seconds from his personal best time to finish in four minutes 21 seconds.

Alex took 29th place in his event and finished 67th overall, moving 14 places up the rankings.

The following day he competed in the 200m butterfly, finishing in a time of two minutes 24 seconds, disappointingly just outside his previous PB time.

Kate Storey competed over the three days in six individual events and in the Argyll and Clyde women’s relay team, returning a strong performance at national level.

Competing first in the 100m breaststroke, the 17-year-old got off to a good start, finishing in one minute 16 seconds and taking 45th overall.

Next up was the 100m freestyle where Kate secured a coveted sub-one minute time of 59.33 seconds.

She knocked 0.75 seconds from her personal best time, taking third place in her event and finishing 31st overall, moving 14 places up the rankings.

Another PB was broken in the 50m freestyle, finishing in a time of 27.46 seconds, Kate knocked 0.24 seconds from her PB, taking fourth place in the event and 32nd overall.

The 50m breaststroke saw a further improvement in her ranking with a move of seven places.

Another PB was set in the 100m individual medley. Finishing in a time of one minute eight seconds, she knocked 0.58 seconds from her previous best time. She took seventh place in her event and finished 37th overall.

The last of her individual events was the 200m breaststroke. She touched in a time of two minutes 45 seconds, taking 12th and 49th overall.

The Argyll and Clyde team finished 20th in the women’s 400m freestyle relay as part of the Argyll and Clyde swim team. The team finished in four minutes and seven seconds, which was 3.18 seconds faster than their entry time. They finished in 20th place overall.

If you are interested in joining the swimming club please email enquiries@helensburghasc.co.uk for more details