Final day in the pool at European Masters Championships

September 07, 2018

Friday 7^th September marked day 6 and the final day of racing in the pool in Kranj, Slovenia.  The events included 200m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 100m breaststroke.

Marie Keane of Comans was first up this morning in one of the toughest events on the program – 200m butterfly, finishing 5^th in the 60-64 age group.  In the men’s heats Peter Conway was the top Irish finisher in 6^th while Aer Lingus Masters colleague Declan O’Sullivan placed 12^th in the 55-59 age group.  Gabor Szabo of Guinness took 13^th place in the 40-44 age group.

Starting at the opposite end of the pool was the 50m backstroke.  Liz Cosgrave of Trojan SC was keen to add to her medal collection and did not disappoint with a first-place finish and Irish record time of 36.94.  Today’s medal brings Liz’s total for the meet to 4; 3 gold (clean sweep in backstroke events) and 1 silver, along with 4 Irish records.  In the men’s 50m backstroke Aer Lingus Masters’ swimmers Vivian Mongey and Boyd Freeman competed in the 55-59 age group finishing 7^th and 11^th respectively.  Trojan’s Andrew Desmond placed 12^th in the 50-54 age group in a time of 36.67.

The final event of the meet was the 100m breaststroke and Marie Keane finally got her hands on a well-deserved bronze medal in a superb time of 1:38.56 which is also a new Irish record.  This was quickly followed by Charlotte Reid who picked up a silver medal in a time of 1:20.99, just 1 second outside her own Irish record.  The honour of final dip in the pool went to the oldest team member on the trip; Gerry Flynn of Cathal Brugha putting in a solid swim to finish 13^th in the 70-74 age group in a time of 2:05.96.

The swimming action now moves to Lake Bled with the open water 3km taking place tomorrow Saturday 8^th and 5km on Sunday 9^th September.  Twenty-five swimmers will feature in tomorrow’s event with another four brave and hardy souls hitting the water on Sunday in the 5km event.