We flew in from East midlands airport to Glasgow really early on the Wednesday morning. Then Ben Titley (our Coach) picked us up and took us to the hotel. When we arrived we just chilled out for a couple of hours before we went to the competition pool to train. Then it was back to the hotel for some food, then off to bed!

For me this meet is just a bit of fun. The events I will be swimming are:

On Thursday I will be doing the 50m Butterfly, Friday the 50m Breaststroke and Saturday the 200m Individual medley. It is pretty nice not to have any pressure on me this meet, as I have already qualified for the events I want to do for the World Championships this summer

Thursday 25^th

In the 50m Butterfly heats I swam well to put me into the final in 5^th place in 24.82 with Ian Hulme 1^st in a time of 24.36. It was really nice swimming a few different events and I love racing, especially the sprint events. It was also nice racing against a few different competitors, some of which I never race against.

In the Final I finished in a very similar time to the heats with a 24.89 this put me in 5^thplace again. Ian Hulme finished 1^st in a 24.17.

The Top 3 Being

1^st - Ian Hulme - 24.17

2^nd - James Doolan - 24.36

3^rd - Daniel Scott - 24.68

Friday 26^th

50m Breaststroke is something that I never do, so when I got the chance to enter I was really excited. Also it will be good practice for my individual medley. In the heats I swam a 29.47 to finish in 8^th position for the final later that evening. Darren Mew won the heats in a 27.67

In the final I crept up a few places to 4^th just missing winning by less than a tenth of a second (0.09). To be honest it was the closest event of the meet with only 11 one hundredths (0.11) of a second separating the top 5 places.

The Top 5 Being

1^st - Chris Jones - 28.53

2^nd - Daniel Sliwinski - 28.54

3^rd - Craig Elliot - 28.60

4^th - Liam Tancock - 28.62

5^th - Kristopher Gilchrist - 28.64

Saturday 27^th

200m Individual Medley is one of my better events, but with me not trying to qualify for the Worlds it was nice to relax and enjoy the swim.

I swam the heats pretty steady to put me into 5^th Place in a 2.06.27 for the final. With Lewis Smith 1^st in 2.02.82

There were 2 guys really trying to qualify for Rome In the 200m IM, One being Lewis Smith and the other a close friend and Loughborough University Team mate Joe Roebuck. It was always going to be close between them. And who ever won the final was going to Rome!

The race started with me taking the lead and keeping it for the first 150m, then they clawed me back on the freestyle leg.  With the touch going to Joe by one hundredth of a second (0.01) the smallest margin possible in a swimming race!

The Top 3 Being

1^st - Joseph Roebuck - 2:00.92

2^nd - Lewis Smith - 2:00.93

3^rd - Liam Tancock - 2:01.34 

Sunday 28^th

Day of rest! - I had a lie in, and then a leisurely breakfast with Grant Turner and Jo Jackson. After that we all wondered into Glasgow's town centre. We didn't do much or buy anything (apart from Jo) but it was nice to see the place and also get some fresh air.

I was due to fly home that evening on the 18.10 flight back to East Midlands. However this flight was diverted to Birmingham instead. When we arrived in Birmingham we had to wait 40minutes for a coach to take everyone back up to East Midlands Airport. But once this arrived, there were not enough seats for everyone, so we had to wait a further 30minutes for another one! GUTTED!!!!!

Then when we finally got on a coach it was around an hour journey back to East midlands Airport, then another 15minutes back to Loughborough.

So what was supposed to be a nice quick stress free journey home from Glasgow, ended up taking hours and hours.

To add insult to injury......When I finally got back to my apartment in Loughborough I found that the communal entrance had had its locks changed! (due to there being a problem with it whist I was away) So that just topped off the day. Fortunately once I got in to the apartment there was a new key waiting for me!!!!

For the full results of the Scottish Nationals / World Trials see: