Competition Reports | Diss Otters

1st June 201617th March 2018

Seven swimmers from Diss Otters excelled in achieving qualifying times for this year’s Eastern Regional Championships at Norwich and Luton respectively.

At the start of May, Matthew Tatum, Dominic Boylan and Justin Bott swam at Norwich in the 15 and over age groups. Dominic set a new pb in the 50 breaststroke as did Matthew in the 100 backstroke. Justin topped off an excellent weekends competition by winning silver in the 200 breaststroke.

The quartet of Isaac Bachu, Cameron Day, Matthew Munnings and Max Ashken travelled to Luton over the bank holiday weekend and all performed with credit. Matthew just missed out on making the final for the 50 fly finishing 9th with a 2 second pb, Isaac swam two pbs in his 2 races the 50 fly and 50 backstroke, Cameron who had qualified for 6 races over the weekend swam 4 pbs culminating in an excellent 50 breaststroke swim of 35.60 seconds and Max swam superbly setting a new pb to reach the final of the 100 fly.

Two fantastic weekends of swimming with the best juniors from across the region taking part and all of the Diss swimmers should take pride in their achievement of qualifying.

Many thanks to Jamie, Tim, Sharon and Teresa for their coaching and help poolside over the two weekends.

24th May 201617th March 2018

Busy Weekend

Diss Otters had their swimmers out in force on Saturday night competing in two events in East Dereham and Norwich.

The Breckland Cup team gala at Dereham Leisure Centre attracted a strong field with two teams entered from hosts Dereham Otters and others from Norwich Swan, West Norfolk, North Norfolk Vikings and Diss.

From early on Swan and West Norfolk were fighting for top spot with Dereham, Vikings and Diss tussling for minor positions. Diss picked up maximum points in races won by Justin Bott, Matthew Tatum and Matthew Munnings – but when the final tallies were calculated the Diss team were beaten into 5th place by just one point by Vikings.
Final positions 1st West Norfolk 2nd Norwich Swan 3rd Dereham “A” 4th North Norfolk Vikings 5th Diss Otters 6th Dereham “B”.

The second event at Norwich’s Riverside pool was a development meet hosted by the Great Yarmouth club and a squad of Diss Otters swimmers were winning medals throughout the evening, coming away with 25 in total made up of 8 golds, 10 silvers and 7 bronzes. Stars of the night were Lily Ellis and Harvey Gates who both won 5 medals hotly pursued by Christopher Tatum with 4, William Brown, Finlay High and Kathryn Wood with 3 and Daniel Brown with 2.

The whole team can be proud of their achievements on the night. The Otters squad at Norwich were William Brown, Harvey Gates, Finlay High, Lily Ellis, Milly Bachu, Darcie Martin, Daniel Brown, Finlay Neve, Freya Button, Christopher Tatum and Kathryn Wood.

Diss Otters train at Diss Leisure Centre and anyone interested in joining the club can contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427795.

The Otters are kindly sponsored by Hughes Electrical.

11th May 201617th March 2018

Diss Otters at West Suffolk A’May’zing gala

Twenty seven swimmers from Diss Otters spent the hottest weekend of the year so far competing at West Suffolk Swimming Clubs A”May”Zing Spring Gala in Bury St Edmunds.

Their hard work was rewarded with a staggering return of 136 personal best swims from 168 total races swum equating to 81%. Every child that took part achieved at least one pb and 14 swimmers set new marks in every race they swam in. Full results can be found here.

With pbs come medals and the Otters brought home 45 of them with 10 swimmers collecting at least once from the medal table.

As a club the Otters finished 3rd in the top visiting club trophy and Matthew Munnings finished 2nd in the top boy award.

The Diss Otters squad members were Daniel Bachu, Isaac Bachu, Millie Bachu, Callum Blair, Luella Brookes, Max Brookes, William Brown, Harry Button, Olivia Chapman, Barney Clarke, Ellesha Close, Amber Dewsbery, Madison Dewsbery, Henry Hindle, Thea Irvine, Cassia Miller, Ottilie Miller, Tiggy Miller, Matthew Munnings, Kara O’Dell, Sophia Pickering, Alise Small, Christopher Tatum, Matthew Tatum, Lauren Taylor, Kathryn Wood and Maddie Wood.

A big thank you from all of the swimmers and parents to Sharon for all of her hard work poolside and she was ably assisted by Teresa and Clare.

Head coach Jamie Rush was showing the youngsters how to do it by winning gold at a masters meet this weekend in Norwich and can be contacted on 07738 427795. Diss Otters are sponsored by Hughes Electrical.

25th April 201617th March 2018

Gala Report Diss Otters – Norfolk Junior League Final

A team of 9 to 12 year old swimmers from Diss Otters took part in the Norfolk Junior League “A” Final last Saturday at Wymondham. Seeded third for the event the Otters maintained that position throughout the gala, putting in some strong performances during the evening.

The two clubs that finished ahead of Diss, namely UEA City of Norwich and Norwich Swan have a far bigger pool of swimmers to pick squads from and to finish third in this countywide event was an excellent achievement for the club.

The final event of the night, the 8×25 freestyle cannon relay always gets the crowd cheering and the Otters finished second behind UEA, getting their revenge for a narrow defeat in the first round gala by Swan by pushing them back into third place.

The Diss Otters squad members were Sophia Pickering, Rosie Munnings, Luella Brookes, Thea Irvine, Imogen Grimes, Ruby Greenhalf, Lottie Gates, Alice Palmer, Max Brookes, Barney Clarke, William Brown, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Daniel Bachu, Christopher Tatum and Matthew Munnings.

Final team scores – UEA “A” 404, Swan “A” 332, Diss 283, UEA “B” 244, Dereham 236.

Anyone interested in joining the club can contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427795.

The Otters train at Diss Leisure Centre and the club are grateful for the continued support of Hughes Electrical as main sponsors.

18th April 201617th March 2018

Newmarket Gala Report 16/17th April 2016

A strong squad of swimmers from Diss Otters Swimming Club travelled to Newmarket at the weekend to take part in two days full of tough and competitive swimming.

Saturday saw plenty of medal winning performances with 8 golds, 7 silvers and 10 bronzes out of 77 swims as well as several regional championship qualifications. More tellingly 65% of total Otters swims resulted in personal bests.

Sundays action included the skins elimination race for which Matthew Tatum and Cameron Day both qualified and subsequently finished 3rd and 4th respectively. This was coupled with a further medal haul of 4 golds, 13 silvers and 9 bronzes from 72 swims plus further regional times achieved and pbs for 60% of total swims by the Otters competitors.

The Otters squad competing over the weekend were Kathryn Wood, Maddie Wood, Lottie Gates, Rosie Munnings, Mae Stanley, Alise Small, Thea Irvine, Katie Halmshaw, Amber Dewsbery, Luella Brookes, Kara O’Dell, Madison Dewsbery, Ottilie Miller, Ruby Greenhalf, Cassia Miller, Imogen Grimes, Olivia Chapman, Christopher Tatum, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Matthew Munnings, Daniel Bachu, Isaac Bachu, Sam Neal, Max Brookes, Cameron Day and Matthew Tatum who personally was second in the top boys points competition.

All in all a successful weekend for the clubs swimmers who were runners up in the top visiting club award and well done to all the parents for getting them there on time. Finally, thanks to the coaching team for their time and support poolside.

Diss Otters train at Diss Leisure Centre and anyone interested in joining the club can contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427795.

The Otters main sponsors are Hughes Electrical and the club are grateful for their continued support.

2nd April 201517th March 2018

Junior League Round 1 and County Relay results 2015

These results make for fabulous reading for the club.

Firstly the Junior League. We have achieved far beyond expectations. This year we are into the ‘A’ Final, the Copeman Cup. Not only that but we sit in 4th position in the County, beaten in Round 1 by only the 3 largest teams in the County, Norwich Swan, UEA City of Norwich A team and West Norfolk. Now whilst winning the A final is likely out of our reach I believe we can compete strongly in the final and take confidence from the first round results. This is a super achievement already, now keep training through the closure and save the date for the final – Saturday 25th April 2015. Results below.

NJL R1 Gala Results – Wymondham – 2015.xlsx

Secondly the County Relay. So many more terrific performances against the best in the County. We started the competition of with one of the biggest wins of the entire meet, the boys 13/14 years medley relay team consisting of Matthew Tatum (BC), Dominic Boylan (BR), Joel Clarke (FL) and Jude Ashken (FC) won this first relay by over 5 seconds! Throughout the meet we managed to better or at least equal all but one of our results from 2014, true progression and development. We finished 6th out of 8 teams overall and that’s having not competed in 5 relays through the night but one of the biggest achievements has to be the lack of disqualifications, not one single team of ours was disqualified, excellent skill and concentration! Results below.

County Relay 2015 Results

8th March 201517th March 2018

Diss Otters SC at the Norfolk County Championships 2015

8 Gold Medals (Joel) 3 Silver Medals (Dominic, Max, Joel) 13 Bronze Medals (Cameron, Mathew T, Max, Dominic, Lotty, Joel, Stephanie)
And a further 23 medals for places 4th - 6th (that's 46 medals in total)

81 swims out of a total of 224 were top 10 finishes with a fantastic 172 new personal best times set. That's 77% of all swims.

On top of all of this we also have 5 swimmers successfully qualified for this years East Region Championships (Joel, Dominic, Cameron, Matthew T, Max), the highest number for some years...

It's been a great year for us at Counties, now spread the competitive bug around your team mates in training as we work towards the Junior League, the County Relay, the Regionals and the County Challenge.

Onwards and Upwards - Success Breeds Success!

20th July 201417th March 2018

Diss Open report

Diss Otters Swimming Club were triumphant this weekend in hosting their annual Open Competition at the UEA Sportspark with all 50 Diss Otters swimmers putting on a show for the vibrant crowd, showing their skills and picking up medals in all events. Competing against teams from City of Norwich, Norwich Swan, Great Yarmouth and RTW Monson the Diss Otters team did themselves proud, “it was awesome to see all of the Diss Otters swimming so well and picking up so many medals, i’m really proud to be boys team captain of such a great club” said Sam Neal.

The atmosphere was electric all through the day and with many Diss Otters swimmers making final heats the team supported each other strongly, girls team captain Emma Halmshaw summed this up superbly saying ”it was lovely to see such great atmosphere in both the pool and on poolside and the great team spirit between everyone of all ages”.

Also competing this weekend was Joel Clarke. A huge achievement for Joel who competed for Norfolk in the National Inter Counties competition at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. Breaking the 30 second barrier in the 50m butterfly event for the first time Head Coach Jamie Rush said “It was a great achievement for Joel to qualify for this prestigious event but to hold his nerve and produce his quickest ever performance shows great quality, the club are honoured to have him represent us at this level”.

The Diss Otters Open team

The Golden Girls – Lauren Armour, Kirsty Barker, Verity Boylan, Tatum Brown, Amber Dewsbery, Madison Dewsbery, Charlotte Dickinson, Lotty Gates, Emma Halmshaw, Katie Halmshaw, Charlotte Hutchings, Elise Jefferis, Cassia Miller, Ottilie Miller, Ellen Nicholas, Emily Noble, Alice Palmer, Charlotte Palmer, Pippa Rice, Amber Smith, Lauren Smith, Lauren Taylor, Yasmin Brown, Stephanie Brown, Ruby Greenhalf, Imogen Grimes, Olivia Chapman, Lydia Barraclough, Thea Irvine, Alise Small.

The Brilliant Boys – Jude Ashken, Max Ashken, Callum Blair, Nathan Sullivan, Jacob Blades, Dominic Boylan, William Johnson, Cameron Day, William Dickinson, Thomas Johnson, William Johnson, Matthew Munnings, Sam Neal, Christopher Tatum, Matthew Tatum, Ryan Waters.

Congratulations to all!

p.s. results available on the events tab