24 February 2006
Student swimming success
University of Dundee student Karen Rigby has made a record-breaking start to 2006 with an astonishing series of performances in the swimming pool.
Fourth-year student Karen (21), from Broughty Ferry, now has a glowing collection of medals picked up over the last two months at the Scottish Championships, the British Universities championships and the Scottish Universities championships.
Her latest powerhouse performance came in the Scottish Universities championships last weekend, where she won four golds while also setting new championship records in the 50 metres butterfly and 100 metres individual medley. Her haul also included two silver medals from the relay events.
This followed winning performances at the Scottish Championhips, where she took both the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke titles and formed part of a record-breaking Tayside team in the 4 x 50m freestyle.
Her success has come with a bittersweet taste however. At the British Universities championships in Sheffield last week she set a new personal best and championship record in the 50 metres butterfly, in a time of 27.87 seconds. That time falls within the qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games but came too late to earn Karen a place in the Scottish squad heading to Melbourne next month.
"I couldn’t believe it when I looked up and saw the time, which took 0.4 of a second off my own personal best," said Karen, who is a member of the University’s Excel Sports Scholarship team.
"I realised pretty quickly that it would have been quick enough to get me to the Commonwealths, but it’s just a shame I didn’t manage to do it a few months earlier."
"I’m delighted with the way things have been going though, this has been a really good run for me."
It is success that has been hard earned - Karen manages to fit in practice sessions four mornings, four evenings and on a Sunday every week through her involvement with City of Dundee Swimming Club as well as completing her studies towards a degree in Business Economics with Marketing and German.
"Karen's performances in the pool over the past few months are a credit to her hard work and sporting potential," said Kirsteen Cruickshanks, sports development officer at the University’s Institute of Sport and Exercise.
"It is remarkable that she has managed to produce commonwealth standard times whilst focusing on her final degree exams. She is a credit to the University and Excel programme."
Karen's performances add to the strong year being enjoyed by the University's sports clubs, with twelve teams through to the knockout stages of the British Universities Sports Associations championships. This is the strongest representation Dundee has had in the knockout stages.
For more information contact:
Roddy Isles
Head of Press
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
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