TWO young swimmers from Helensburgh Amateur Swimming Club travelled to Aberdeen last week to represent the club at the Scottish National Age Group Championships.

The competition was held at the Aquatics Centre over five days and hosted 1,000 of the best young swimmers from over 90 clubs from across the UK.

Caitriona Stewart was competing in the female 11-13 age group and qualified to swim in three events.

She swam strongly to secure a hat-trick of personal best times and move up the rankings several places.

First up was the 50m freestyle, she secured a time of 30.38s, a 0.47s PB and a move up the rankings from 30th to 23rd place.

In the 100m breaststroke she secured a fantastic 1.76s PB, finishing in a time of 1.28.07s moving 15 places up the rankings from 55th to 40th place.

Caitriona finished up with the 50m butterfly and sealed a third PB with a time of 34.34s and moved from 53rd to 44th place.

Alexander Johnson swam in the male 15 age group in five events.

He rose to the occasion to secure places in two finals and personal best times in three of his heat events and both finals.

Alex started the week with the 50m butterfly, swimming it in 28.89s he secured a PB of 1.05s and moved up the rankings from 24th to 12th place, narrowly missing out on a final place, he was second reserve.

Next up was the 400m freestyle. In the heats he finished in eighth place, then in a nerve-shredding final he improved to fifth place, finishing in a time of 4.28.58s, a 1.77s PB and a move up the rankings from 11th to fifth place.

In the 200m freestyle he moved from 17th to 13th place in the rankings in a time of 2.09.27.

The 100m butterfly saw him qualify for his second final. He finished seventh in the heats which he held onto in the final with a strong PB of 1.27s and a move up the rankings from ninth to seventh place.

Alexander finished with the 100m freestyle in 59.36s and 17th place overall.

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