DALRY swimmer Heather Stuart was a quadruple medal-winner as the North Ayrshire team swum their last race of 2019 at the South Ayrshire Open meet.

The 12-year-old took gold in the 200m fly, taking more than 10 seconds off her time. Her three other bronze medals came in the 100m fly, 50m fly and the 50m free, setting a new PB in two of them. She swam really well making three finals and going faster twice,

Junior coach Alan Dickson said: “We had 13 swimmers from silver and gold and 11 seniors which was impressive. Many kids had sore throats and coughs which made the return of 65 PBs from 108 swims all the more impressive.” The event at the Citadel included 50m sprints which gave some of the younger swimmers an opportunity to experience qualifying and then racing in finals, with the aim of going faster still at the second attempt. Heather’s cousin Kate Stuart (10) was just pipped to victory in a close-fought 50m backstroke, with some of the team on poolside believing she got the touch on her rival. Kate’s elder brother, James, bagged an eight-second PB in his 100m fly and posted a 1.4 second improvement in his breaststroke sprint. Fraser Cowie (11) also from Dalry, took nearly 16 seconds off his 200m breaststroke, placing fifth in 3:23.55 and took nearly nine seconds off his 200m backstroke for a top 10 finish. He was almost four seconds faster in the 200m freestyle. Caelin Chan (11) from Stevenston, had three top 10 finishes, taking nearly six seconds off her 200m breaststroke and slicing two seconds off the freestyle. She also PB’d the 100m breaststroke race. Younger sister, Evie (9) placed in the top 10 in her four 50m races with a best placing fourth in the fly and three new PBs. The honour of biggest PB of the day was claimed by Beth Hill, from Ardrossan. The 14-year-old took 44 seconds off her 200m fly for eighth in the 13/14 age group. Rachel McGuire (13) from Saltcoats, finished in the top nine in all her events where she was competing against 14-year-olds, taking sixth in the 100m fly. Emily McGuire (9) raced in the four 50m events and took 1.3 seconds off her fly for ninth place and half a second off her backstroke. Ruby McInnes (9) from Dalry had an identical programme and PB’d in the same events, grabbing seventh in the fly and ninth in backstroke.