North West Timber Treatments (NWTT) employee and swimmer Andrew Mayor has qualified to represent Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in India in October this year.
Mr Mayor, who is 24, has qualified for the 200m butterfly but also hopes to race in the 100m butterfly. His fastest time for the 200m this year is 1 minute 59.42 seconds.
He told TTJ he was determined to gain a place on the team after missing qualification for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne by just 0.1 second.
“I am really excited,” he said. “I’ll be racing against the quickest guys in the Commonwealth. I’ll take it in and learn as much as I can.”
Mr Mayor, who is in the top 10 in the Commonwealth, started swimming competitively when he was aged eight. He now trains about 18-20 hours in the pool each week, as well as spending six to eight hours in the gym and four hours on flexibility work. He has been competing internationally for the past four years and has swum in the European Short Course championships, two US opens, Canadian tri nations, and the Mare Nostrum European circuit.
Mr Mayor, who works in market research and product development at NWTT’s Scotland branch at Creca Sawmills in Annan, said he could not have been successful without the company’s support. “You couldn’t get a better employer,” he said.
Mr Mayor’s next big goal is the 2012 Olympics.
“In sport, two years is a very long time. Any sportsperson would love to race at the Olympic Games, and to swim in a home Olympics would be a dream. I will be trying to get a spot on the team but it’s not easy,” he said.
Mr Mayor leaves for Delhi in mid-September and racing starts in the first week of October.
