Falkirk Otters swimmers earn club junior league title triumph

The club finished just a single point in front of Grangemouth in the twelve team league, while they didn’t take spot for the first time since 2004 in what is a massive achievement for the Otters.

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, development lead Colin Fawkes said of the success: “The last time the club won the league was 29 years ago which is a bit crazy.

“Our coach Eleanor McGlashan was still part of the set-up back then and she has now led this group to a league title so it is a brilliant story.

"One of the young swimmers from back then is now part of our coaching set-up too, and his son is actually in the current group of youngsters now, so you can just how tight-knit our team is.

"There is a generational family thing going on throughout the club and it really does mean a lot to everyone involved.”

Fawkes is however wary of the club’s short term and long term future after recent struggles with having a local place for the group to train and swim regularly.

“It is all up in the air at the moment with the facilities we use at Falkirk High going through a public consultation phase,” he said. “I think it will have a really big impact on swimming in the local area.

"I understand running pools is dear but we would have been happy to chip in if we were actually asked.”

Meanwhile, the club also recently raised just under £5,000 for the Teeenage Cancer Trust by running a Swimathon event.

Fawkes said: “We managed to use the massive facilities at the University of Stirling and that was great because we had 12 lanes to work with. The pool there splits into two big swimming pools and we were able to get everyone involved.

“The goal was to reach 82km and between the swimmers, coaches and parents we managed to get to 189km which is impressive for a two hour session. We had youngsters taking part from age seven upwards and it really was a great occasion.

“We’re up to £4,840 now in terms of donations and more keep trickling in. One of the coaches Erin Lawson did a brilliant job in terms of organising it all.”