Two weekends, two galas and lots of success for the swimmers from Diss Otters.First up was the Warwick Thompson County Gala held at Waterworld in Thetford. Fifteen swimmers aged between 9 and 17 from Diss took part with some terrific results in the pool. From only 68 individual swims the squad managed to accumulate 27 (11G, 8S, 8B) medals.
Nathan Hunt and Lily Ellis both bagged six medals each and nine other swimmers collected medals - a really good achievement, which coupled with a mountain of new personal bests meant a really pleased coaching team.
The Diss Otters squad members were Amber Dewsbery, Ella Townsend, Phoebe Tovell, Alex Jackson, Lily Ellis, Ellesha Close, Ellen Davidson, Laurie Shearer, Toby Townsend, Katie Halmshaw, Nathan Hunt, Eleanor Godbold, Jon Barber, Lauren Taylor and Harrison Fall.
Last weekend saw a team of 21 Diss Otters take to the 50m UEA Sportspark pool for the City of Norwich March Long Course gala.
120 individual swims saw 58 top 8 swims, including 6 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze medals. The team also achieved 58 new personal best times over the weekend, which considering a lot of the team had peaked for the County Championships only a few weeks earlier was a great return.
Noah Blair, Oslo Chapman, Thea Irvine, Rosie Munnings, Heidi Noakes, Ciaran Strike and Matthew Tatum were the medal winning swimmers with great performances from the rest of the team who were Callum Blair, Harry Button, Olivia Chapman, Harry Daly,Shannon Evans, Harrison Fall, Imogen Grimes, Nathan Hunt, Forbes Irvine, Alex Jackson, Cassia Miller, Ottilie Miller, Tiggy Miller and Kara O'Dell.
Nine clubs took part in the gala with Diss Otters finishing fifth in the team standings behind the big four of City of Norwich, West Norfolk, City of Cambridge and West Suffolk but well clear of the other comparably sized clubs taking part in the event.