Over the warmest weekend of 2018 all roads led to the Aurora Leisure Centre for the Ulster Age Groups on 2nd & 3rd of June. The Swim Ulster organised event is the pinnacle of swimming for those aged 11 to 14 with extremely tough qualifying times and a full range of events with finals.
Yr9 pupil Ellie McCartney was competing in eight events over the weekend in the most competitive age group for girls and came away with three Ulster titles, three Gold medals, one Silver medal and two more Irish Summer National times, as well as having fantastic fun with her close friends and fellow competitors. Ellie dominated the 100m and 200m Breaststroke events with some of the fastest times of the weekend. The student entered the gruelling 400m Individual Medley for the 1st time in more than 4 years and with a slower seeded time was competing in the second last heat with the favourites in the final heat, meaning that Ellie was racing against the clock. She swam a fantastic race and then sat back to watch the final heat where the fastest swimmer came home 1/10th of a second slower than Ellie’s time. This gave the Enniskillen swimmer in Gold Medal position and an Irish Summer National Time of 5:31.66. The same two swimmers met again in the 100m Butterfly with Ellie finishing in Silver Medal position on this occasion and achieving an 8 second personal best and another qualification time (1:11.99) . The thirteen-year-old also qualified as top seed for the 200m Individual Medley but due to a breakdown in communication was unable to compete in the final. Three fourth places were also achieved in the 50m, 100m and 400m Freestyle events showing Ellie’s versatility. It was another exceptional weekend with Ellie winning triple Ulster Titles for the second year in a row at this level, leaving her well set up for the end of year Irish Championships in July.
