The Edinburgh University swimmers have once again demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with as they competed in the BUCS Short Course swimming championships in Ponds Forge, Sheffield in mid November. The team of 21 pulled out a number of fine performances to contribute to Edinburgh's excellent 5th place overall finish, the only four Universities above being the High Performance centres of Stirling, Loughborough, Bath and Swansea.

The competition kicked off on the Friday night with Jenn Davis and Euan Ballantyne taking on the unenviable task of swimming the 800m. Cameron Smith also started his weekend by finishing 13th in the 1500m. Both the men's and women's relay teams comfortably qualified for the 4x50 freestyle final, with the men's team especially showing promise after qualifying second.

The team came out strongly for Saturday's heats, with some excellent swims resulting in several Edinburgh swimmers making finals. James Thomson swam in both the 50m back and the 100m fly and qualified for the finals in both. The girl's team, despite losing two of their best swimmers from last year, didn't seem phased as the gaps were filled by an influx of new swimmers, Andrea Strachan, Iona Campbell, Amy Cadden, Rachel Smithers, Vicky Clarke, Connie Green and Laura Stevenson. Indeed, all Edinburgh girls ended up putting in top performances. Andrea made the finals in all of her swims, finishing 3rd in the 50m brst - in a time of 33.11 - and 4th in the 50m free. Eleanor Brooke also made the final in the 200m brst.

The finals session resulted in Edinburgh picking up their first medals of the Championships. Richard Schafers finished 2nd in the 50m free in a time of 22.84 and a new club record, while Andrea Strachan finished 4th in the 100m brst. In the relays, the girl's 4x50 freestyle team of Andrea Strachan, Iona Campbell, Amy Cadden and Eleanor Brooke finished 6th in a time of 1.51.83. The men's freestyle relay team came in 3^rd, four places higher than in 2009 and in a new club record. In other individual finals, Kieran McGuckin placed 9th in the 200m back. Craig Meek joined Ricahard Schafers in the 50 free final, finishing in 23.99.

The Sunday session again had brilliant swimming from Edinburgh, with the majority of the team emerging from their races with new personal bests. Jen Davis was again in action in the gruelling 200 fly, taking 12th place. Scott MacKenzie also completed his weekend with the 200m fly, with an impressive final 50m split of 55 seconds.

Kieran placed 8th in the 100m back final in a time of 57.33. In the 4x50 medley relays, the men's team of James Thomson, Kieran McGuckin, Mark Jaggs and Richard Schafers put in a solid performance to take 5^th place in 1.44.17. The women's team, of Rachel Smithers, Andrea Strachan, Amy Cadden and Eleanor Brooke finished 10^th in a time of 2.05.77 to round off the Championships perfectly.

Overall, the Edinburgh team made 13 individual finals between them during the meet, with 10 top 5 finishes resulting in one silver medal and two bronze. A huge congratulations goes to everyone involved, with some top notch swimming in a championships which is getting more and more competitive every year! Accutane online

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While the club has been busy gearing up for the new University season, four Edinburgh swimmers have been in action at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

Kathryn Johnstone, Lousie Pate, Kerry Buchan and Kris Gilchrist were the four swimmers to feature for Team Scotland, along with Chris Jones in a coaching capacity. All have taken part in multiple events in what has been an eventful week of swimming.

Gilchrist was the most prolific of the Edinburgh bunch, appearing in both the 100 and 200m breaststroke finals. In the 100, he progressed comfortably to final with a consistent batch of 61 second swims, eventually finishing 7th in a 1:01.43. He then positioned higher in the 200m, taking 5th in a 2:11.77 in what was a thrilling race featuring fellow Scot Michael Jamieson, who was just tipped out of the title into silver medal position. Gilchrist himself was only 0.33 seconds off the bronze medal time set by Australian Christian Sprenger.

Kathryn Johnstone and Kerry Buchan also featured in the breaststroke events. In the 200m, Buchan secured her spot in a Commonwealth final and finished an admirable 8th in a time of 2:31.18.

With more to come, both progressed comfortably to the semi-finals in the 100m. Buchan eventually finished 12th overall with a 1:11.33, while Johnstone only narrowly missed out on a berth in the finals, finishing 10th in 1:11.00.

Kerry appeared in her second semi final of the meet in the 50m breaststroke, finishing in 32.93 seconds. Kathryn however had other ideas, as she swam some excellent times to progress to the final and claim 7th spot in a PB time of 32.19.

Louise Pate, who had worked so hard to make it into the team, was not to be left out of the party either. In the 50m butterfly she also made a semi-final, swimming close to her PB to finish 11th in a 27.49, a result she was pleased with! To add to the mass of semi-final swims that the Edinburgh swimmers were obtaining, she finished 12th in the 100m fly in 1:00.83.

Kerry, Louise and Kris were also members of the Scottish 4x100 medley relay teams - the men finished 5th in 3:40.68 while the woman emulated that position in a time of 4:11.53.

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In summary: 4 swimmers - 4 finals, 5 semi finals and 5 top 10 placings in the Commonwealth. Congratulations from everybody at EUSWPC!

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EUSWPC sent a 25 strong team to Tollcross last week, many with hopes of securing qualification for Commonwealth Games despite the notoriously tough qualifying times. As it turned out, the week was a mix of elation and disappointment for all clubs involved, as despite 13 Scottish prednisone swimmers making the cut there were also many other brilliantly gutsy swims that fell just below the standards.

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Two Edinburgh swimmers, Kathryn Johnstone and Kerry Buchan, made the Scottish team for 50 breast and 100/200 breast respectively. Other notable mentions should go to Iain MacMillan - who after dominating the 200m butterfly all year finished only a second outside his required time, and Billy Purnell - who swam a colossal PB in the 400 IM only to fall a mere fraction of a �second outside the target time.

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Despite this, the team remained remarkably upbeat all week, something which may well have had a bearing on Edinburgh's complete domination of the overall points. By the end of the week, the team had won by well over 100 points - highlighting that in just 2 years since entering into National competition, EUSWPC are now one of the powerhouses of Scottish swimming.

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While this was the last port of call before hanging up the trunks for several of the athletes in the team, many are still training on into the summer. 9 team members will be competing at the Irish LC Nationals in Dublin near the end of the month, while several others will make appearances at the ASA Championships in early August.

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Well done to Kathryn, Kerry and the rest of the team on a brilliant effort!

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Full results can be found at www.swimscotland.co.uk