Category: Competition Reports

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Midsummer Madness and Surprize Gala Report

Diss Otters sent teams of swimmers to two galas over the weekend, with a team of thirteen competing in the City of Norwich Midsummer Madness Meet on Saturday and a squad of thirty taking part in the Team Ipswich Surprize Gala on Sunday.

First to Norwich, which was a long course (50m) gala and out of a total of 70 swims the Otters swam 36 new personal best times, with 26 top 6 finishes, coming away with 14 podium medals.

The action at Crown Pools in Ipswich on Sunday was in the short course 25m pool and saw Diss swimmers compete in 158 races with 82 pbs, 53 top six finishes and of that total 24 were medal positions.

Next weekend sees a small but intrepid group of Diss Otters head to Whittlingham Broad in Norwich for the Regional Open Water Championships.

This event sees the end of the Season with the action reconvening in September.

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Diss otters Galas Galore!

Over the last three weekends swimmers from Diss Otters have taken part in the Norfolk ASA County Challenge, the County Development gala (both held at Waterworld in Thetford) and also the Fenland Senior League held at Newmarket.

Some amazing swimming over the first two competitions saw the Otters scoop an incredible 45 podium medals from only 83 individual swims. A further 18 of the remaining swims resulted in top six finishes.

Many new pbs were attained as well with the development swimmers setting an unbelievable 37 new marks from 41 swims.

The Otters swimmers in the county galas were Kathryn Wood, Maddie Wood, Thomas Hutchings, Alise Small, Olivia Chapman, Shannon Evans, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Thea Irvine, Imogen Grimes, Freya Button, Alexandra Jackson, Molly Wilson, Amber Dewsbery, Kara O’Dell, Max Brookes, Luella Brookes, Lauren Taylor and Lily Ellis.

The Fenland Senior League (pictured) first round at Newmarket saw Diss lead throughout the gala with some impressive individual and relay swims, before getting pipped at the post by March Marlins, after they won the vital eight swimmer cannon relay – that provided a thrilling finale to a great evenings action in the pool.

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Diss Otters New Kit!

Diss Otters Swimming Club are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year and to mark the fact the club have a new poolside kit.

The parents of the swimmers have been extremely supportive of the venture because although the club has part funded the new shirts, it has been the parents that have paid the majority of the cost.

The coaching team have also been supplied with new shirts, and the swimmers will get the opportunity to parade their new kit at several galas over the next few weeks.

The club was formed in 1987 as Waveney Otters which coincided with the old outdoor pool being covered. The name change to Diss Otters came in 2002 and from then until now the club has provided a base for up to 150 members aged seven to seventy plus.

More exciting events are in the pipeline to celebrate the 30 year milestone for later in the year.

Head coach Jamie Rush has also taken the opportunity to name new captains, with Matthew Tatum the new boys captain assisted by Joel Clarke and Matthew Munnings as vice catains, Lottie Gates is the new girls captain with Ottilie Miller and Lauren Taylor as vice captains.

A team of Diss Otters swimmers took part in a Sprint gala at Wymondham last Saturday hosted by Norwich Swan. Diss finished a creditable third with some great pbs and individual swims, just being overhauled for second by Dereham. A strong Norwich Swan team took the trophy.

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Diss Otters at Regionals

A small group of Diss Otters swimmers took part in this years East of England Regional Swimming Championships over the two May bank holiday weekends.

Three swimmers, Matthew Tatum, Isaac Bachu and Cameron Day took part in the first weekends competition at the Inspire Sports Village, Luton, for swimmers aged 15 and over.

All three swimmers swam really well with new personal bests set by Isaac in the 50m butterfly and Matthew in the 50m backstroke.

Matthew Munnings flew the Diss Otters flag on his own, with coach Jamie Rush supporting him, at the UEA Sportspark at the second weekend for competitors aged 14 and under.

Matthew raced in seven events gaining new personal bests in five of them.

His highlights were the 50m and 100m butterfly where he narrowly missed making the final in both, finishing 10th and 11th respectively.

Regionals qualification times are really tough and all four swimmers should be extremely proud of their achievements.

The clubs swimmers are next in action in the Norwich Swan Sprint Trophy Meet at Wymondham on Saturday 10th June.

Picture L-R Matthew Munnings, Matthew Tatum, Cameron Day, Isaac Bachu, Jamie Rush (Head Coach), Juliet Grimes (Otters chair) and Matthew Moss (Hughes – sponsor)

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Otter to swim channel

Diss Otters swimmer and Diss High school pupil Will Johnson will take part in one of swimmings toughest events in July.

Will and a group of like minded swimmers from the Felixstowe area will swim the English Channel in a relay event held in the summer.

Currently in training for the event Will said, “It’s going to be tough, but we are looking to raise money through sponsorship for The Young Minds Trust which is a charity which supports children with mental health issues.”

The group have named themselves the East Coast Icicles – well named considering the channel will only be around sixteen degrees when the event takes place. The nineteen mile swim should take about fifteen hours and will see the swimmers start from Shakespeares beach near Dover and they should make landfall in France at Cap Griz Nez.

Will has swum for Diss Otters for the last few years and has foregone standard pool events to concentrate on Open water swimming and competed in the National finals last year.

The Icicles have their own fundraising page so if you would like to donate here is the link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/eastcoasticicles

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Otters Scoop 20 Medals at Mini Meet

Twenty four swimmers from Diss Otters took part in the latest Mini Meet gala organised by Great Yarmouth Swimming Club on Saturday at UEA Sportspark.

This series of galas is designed to give swimmers valuable experience and develop their racing skills before stepping up to bigger meets in the future.

The Diss team performed brilliantly on the night with twenty medals and a total of forty seven top six finishes from ninety six individual swims.

Highlights included three golds and a silver for Ciaran Strike, a medal of each colour for Lucas Blair, a gold for Forbes Irvine and a gold and a silver for birthday boy Daniel Brown.

Other medal winners were Oslo Chapman, Finlay Neve, Isaac Looker, Alexandre Jackson, Sunshine Allen, Emma Neve, Elizabeth Looker and Lily Ellis.

The full Otters squad was Oslo Chapman, Ciaran Strike, Finlay Neve, Forbes Irvine, Toby Townsend, Rowan Shearer, Isaac Looker, Ella Townsend, Alexandra Jackson, Molly Wilson, Darcie Martin, Sunshine Allen, Alfie Childs, Lucas Blair, Phoebe Tovell, Rainbow Allen, Ella Wilson, Molly Wilson, Freya Button, Molly Kershaw, Emma Neve, Elizabeth Looker, Lily Ellis and Daniel Brown.

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Newmarket Swimming Club’s April Open Gala Report

A squad of fifteen swimmers from Diss Otters travelled to Newmarket

Newmarket Swimming Club’s April Open Gala

Swimming Club’s April Open Gala on Saturday and Sunday last week.

A competition of real quality across all ages saw the Otters competing with clubs from across East Anglia in events from 50m up to 400m.

Following two tough days of racing Diss ended up taking home 27 medals (9 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze) from a total of 88 swims.

The squad set new personal bests in exactly half of those races with Callum Blair (pictured), Daniel Bachu, Rosie Munnings and Olivia Chapman setting new marks in all of the events they took part in. Callum being the only one to round off the weekend with the 400IM.

The full squad was Shannon Evans, Rosie Munnings, Thea Irvine, Olivia Chapman, Lottie Gates, Alise Small, Imogen Grimes, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Matthew Munnings, Cameron Day, Matthew Tatum, Max Ashken, Daniel Bachu and Isaac Bachu.

The Otters see their next action in the pool at the UEA Sportspark for the City of Norwich Easter meet over the holiday weekend.

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Otters Mini Meet Riverside

Twenty seven swimmers from Diss Otters took part in the latest Mini Meet at Riverside swimming pool in Norwich on Saturday evening.  Great Yarmouth Swimming Club organised this gala – the latest in a series which is designed to help younger, less experienced swimmers develop their racing skills and techniques.  Competitors took part in 25m or 50m races in breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and freestyle plus a 100m individual medley.  From a total of 117 swims the Diss swimmers took home an incredible 61 medals consisting of 22 golds, 26 silvers and 13 bronzes.  As well as the medals there were many personal bests recorded and to see so many young swimmers competing for the club bodes well for future years.  Daniel Brown (5) and Evie Kemp (4) won golds in all of their races whilst there were also full quotas of various medals for Ciaran Strike, Thomas Hutchings, Alex Jackson, Lily Ellis, Phoebe Tovell, Dilly Kemp, Rainbow Allen and Evie Kemp.

The full Otters squad was Daniel Brown, Finlay Neve, Ciaran Strike, Forbes Irvine, Thomas Hutchings, Harvey Gates, Finlay High, Rowan Shearer, Isaac Looker, Alex Jackson, Molly Wilson, Lily Ellis, Darcie Martin, Millie Bachu, Oslo Chapman, Patrick Hagan, Lucas Blair, Phoebe Tovell, Dilly Kemp, Rainbow Allen, Elizabeth Looker, Ella Wilson, Molly Kershaw, Freya Button, Evie Kemp, Tiggy Miller and Sunshine Allen.
Photo: Jamie Rush
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County Relay Gala it UEA Sportspark

Diss Otters finished in an excellent fourth place at Saturdays County Relay Gala at the UEA Sportspark.  City of Norwich, West Norfolk and Norwich Swan finished first, second and third respectively and despite having nowhere near the strength in depth of the counties big three clubs Diss finished ahead of the rest of the field.  The evenings highlights for the Otters were the two race victories for Grace Greenhalf, Sophia Pickering, Rosie Munnings and Lily-Anne Jones in the 9/10 year old girls freestyle (2 mins 23.29 secs) and medley (2 mins 39.62 secs) races.

Following on from the girls double gold success were the 13/14 years boys team of Max Ashken, Matthew Munnings, Cameron Day and Isaac Bachu who won double bronze in their two events.  Whether it was fighting out first place or battling for seventh and eighth all of the Otters teams performed with credit throughout the evening, and as many swimmers were swimming up in older age groups to finish fourth overall was a superb result for the club.
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Diss Otters Winners at Junior League Final

Despite only finishing second in Saturday evenings Junior League round 2 gala at Wymondham Leisure centre, Diss Otters clinched the Christine Copeman Cup by virtue of a better combined score over both rounds.  West Norfolk won Saturdays event but when the officials had crunched the numbers the Otters prevailed by a solitary point. The other clubs competing were North Norfolk, Great Yarmouth and Norwich Swan.

This event is for swimmers aged nine to twelve and there were some great performances with individual wins for Sophia Pickering, Barney Clarke, Rosie Munnings, Grace Greenhalf, Alise Small, Lily-Anne Jones, Thea Irvine and Imogen Grimes. When adding in the relay wins this gave a total of sixteen race wins on the night.

The Otters squad members were Max Brookes, Adam Parker, Barney Clarke, Jacob Shadbolt, Sophia Pickering, Grace Greenhalf, Rosie Munnings, Lily-Anne Jones, Harvey Gates, Daniel Bachu, William Brown, Alise Small, Thea Irvine, Imogen Grimes and captains Harry Button and Cassia Miller.

Thanks to coaches Jamie and Shirley and poolside helpers Ottilie and Matthew plus the clubs officials and supporters.