Kirkcudbright Otters Swimming Club hold annual awards presentation

The club held its annual awards at Kirkcudbright Bowling Club recently to celebrate the achievements of club swimmers over the past year and the recent club championships.

This was the club’s first full year of training in Kirkcudbright Pool in almost five years and the first full club championships in two years, and one of the few opportunities to get together as a club outside of the pool.

In addition to regular training, the club also undertook a number of additional events throughout the year including dive training, competing in the D&G Schools Gala, having a mixer with Annan Alligators, competing in the Newton Stewart Aquathlon, plus some impressive swimming results at the Scottish Area Tetrathlon Championships.

The venue was ideal as it provided the opportunity to present the awards, socialise over a buffet, play some games and watch some bowling in the sun. As expected, the buffet was quickly polished off by more than 40 swimmers, however, the crowing jewel was a cake depicting the swimmers training in the pool.

As well as presenting awards to club champions, the night provided an opportunity to recognise others for their improvement, achievements, and contributions to the club. The highlight of the night was the award of the endeavour trophies.

The Thomas Wright Endeavour Trophy was awarded to Hazel Dempster for her inspirational attitude to her medical treatments over the past few years. As such a deserving winner, the club decided to award this in perpetuity and introduce a new trophy for the future, the Hazel Dempster Endeavour Award, whose first winner was Eliza Clark for her attitude, perseverance and improvement in both swimming and diving.

Whilst the club championships provided some