2008 Swimmer of the Year Award

2008 has seen many of the clubs swimmers producing great performances in the pool and in open water. Drawing up a short list of candidates has been extremely difficult. After much deliberation this years short list contains four outstanding candidates.

The three runners up this year are

Jill Groves
Jill retained her National Title over 50M Backstroke with a personal best time despite under going a operation on her knee earlier on in the year. Jill has only managed to train sporadically since her recover which makes this result even more remarkable.

Rob Robson
Rob has completed his first full year of training since returning to swimming, and his result has proved it has all been worth while.

Rob claimed Gold in both the 100 and 50 Breastroke at the National Long course Championships with what we believe to be Scottish National Records. His good form continued to the Short Course Championships which saw him claim a Bronze and a Silver in the same events.

Chris (Zim) Ryall
Although Zim has been one of the most reliable performers for the club over the years, this year proved to be a rather special one. It started with a trip to the Worlds in Australia which saw Zim claim a top 10 place in the 100 Breastroke.

Against his better judgment and the possibility of hypothermia (zero % body fat) Zim was talked into competing in a 2K open water swim up the Thames at Henley early one July morning. He left Olympiad Karen Pickering and KMSC's own open water specialist Matt Wardle in his wake to finish in overall second place. It took the talents of a young Australian who had not so many moons ago been World ranked top 10 for the 1500M to beat him.

The year ended with a three Silver medal haul at the National Short Course Championships.

The Winner
2008 Swimmer of the Year

Anthony O'Driscoll - British Record Holder
Anthony produced a sparkling end of the year display of swimming in Sheffield at the National Short Course Championships, grabbing 2 Gold medals in the 100 and 200M Breastroke.

A Gold medal would have been enough to please most people however Anthony's performance in the 100 Breastroke was good enough to claim him a British Record in a time of 1:10.42.

Anthony's achievements are even more remarkable when you consider that he has spent a long period of time unable to swim due to problems with his knee (quite important in Breastroke so I'm told). Since returning to the pool he has completely ripped up the rule book by training entirely on his own in an 18 metre pool.

Well done and congratulations from all of us mere aquatic mortals at the club.