IT’S little wonder that the first time Kara Hanlon saw a 50m swimming pool, she got the fright of her life.
She had, after all, spent most of her junior career training in a 12.5m pool which, in elite swimming terms, is little bigger than a puddle.
It is, then, quite a jump from those humble beginnings to being Scotland’s newest national record holder having broken a 15-year-old mark held by one of this country’s best-ever swimmers.
Last month, Hanlon broke the long-standing Scottish 100m breaststroke record, which had been held by World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Kirsty Balfour.
Such a feat is a far cry from her early days in the pool.
Hanlon was born and bred on the western isle of Lewis which, unsurprisingly, did not have any Olympic-sized pools to boast of.
So, while many of her peers were honing their skills in top-of-the-range facilities on the mainland, Hanlon was doing what she could in a pool a quarter of the size of a full-scale swimming pool and was forging a path no swimmer from the islands had ever managed before.
“The pool was tiny but we made it work.
“We did things that seem crazy to me now – things like set up a rope and swim up and round it to make it a 25m pool,” the 22-year-old recalls.
“We did hardly any distance – I was probably doing 20k a week compared to 35-40k per week now but I really enjoyed it and that’s when things started to develop and I was doing things no one from the islands had ever done before.
“I remember the first time I ever saw a 50m pool was the first time I raced in a 50m pool. It seemed absolutely huge.
“And actually swimming it felt so long – I remember realising I wasn’t even halfway and I couldn’t believe it.”
At the age of 18, Hanlon moved to Edinburgh to study and with Edinburgh University boasting an impressive swim set-up, Hanlon has slowly but surely established herself as the best female breaststroker Scotland has to offer, which was confirmed by her getting her hands on that long sought-after Scottish record just a few weeks ago.
“It was great to get the Scottish record – I’d been looking to break that for a long time so to finally do it was really nice and get my name in the record books,” she says.
“It was pretty surreal to break Kirsty Balfour’s record – there’s been so many good Scottish breaststrokers since Kirsty so for me to be the one to break it was a really big thing and something I’ll remember for a long time.
“And now it’s about building on that time.”
Hanlon has a big few weeks ahead of her.
Starting today, she will compete at the star-studded Edinburgh International, with some of Britain’s very best talent on show such as Olympic champions Adam Peaty, Duncan Scot, Kathleen Dawson and James Guy also in action.
For Hanlon, who will be racing on her home turf at the Commonwealth Pool, this weekend is the perfect aperitif to the British Championships in four weeks’ time, which will double as the trials for this summer’s World and European Championships, as well as the Commonwealth Games.
Having missed out on qualification for the 2018 Commonwealth Games by a mere .04 of a second, Hanlon is determined to ensure there is no repeat over the coming weeks.
“The Edinburgh International is always a good meet and I’m really excited to get going,” she says.
“For me, this is pretty much a dry run for the British Champs – everyone I’ll be racing at Trials will be in Edinburgh so that’s great and it’s always good to see where everyone is.
“Getting onto GB teams is definitely something I’m striving towards.
“My big goal is to qualify for the Commonwealth Games at the trials and then anything on top of that will be a bonus.”
Despite the odds being stacked against her due to her early lack of access to top class facilities, Hanlon’s talent has prevailed which, she admits, was something she did, at times at least, have doubts about.
And as the Commonwealth Games draw closer, Hanlon admits she has far loftier aspirations than merely making it onto Team Scotland, with the possibility of becoming the first swimmer from the western isles to win Commonwealth silverware crossing her mind.
“When you’re young, you always dream about what you could do but when you go through life, there’s always ups and downs so at times, I did doubt it was possible to get to this point.
So to now be here is pretty nice,” she says.
“This first goal is to qualify for the Commonwealth Games but then the second is to swim as fast as I can when I get there and hopefully be in contention for a medal.
“That’s a really exciting position to be in.”
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