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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.

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.

Diss Otters came away from this year’s County Swimming Championships with some incredible performances across the board.  Held over the last two weekends at the UEA Sportspark, swimmers from all over Norfolk competed in races from 50m to 1500m. 

Twenty six Otters took to the pool in a total of 173 individual swims which resulted in 39 podium positions first to third, 79 top six finishes and 116 top ten finishes.

Times are the name of the game and the squad hit 137 new personal best times, and this is the real benchmark that the coaches look to as it shows improvement over a period of time.

Special mentions go to Joel Clarke who won four trophies in the 16 and under championship events, Cameron Day and Barney Clarke who won events in their age group categories and also to Matthew Munnings, Matthew Tatum, Dominic Boylan, Isaac Bachu as well as Joel, Barney and Cameron who all qualified for Regional events which is the next step up the gala ladder.

The Diss Otters squad members were Sophia Pickering, Grace Greenhalf, Rosie Munnings, Cassia Miller, Thea Irvine, Alise Small, William Brown, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Barney Clarke, Matthew Munnings, Cameron Day, Isaac Bachu, Matthew Tatum, Max Brookes, Joel Clarke, Kathryn Wood, Lottie Gates, Katie Halmshaw, Dominic Boylan, Imogen Grimes, Olivia Chapman, Luella Brookes, Kara O’Dell, Ottilie Miller and Yasmin Brown.

Thanks to Jamie, Sharon and Marcus for their help poolside plus all of the clubs officials and parents for their support.

A squad of twenty four Diss Otters swimmers, aged 9-15, took to the water at the UEA Sportspark pool this weekend in Great Yarmouth Swimming Club’s Winter Wipeout gala.  This gala provided swimmers with their final chance to qualify for the Norfolk ASA County Championships, which are held over two weekends in January.

Many of the Diss swimmers achieved their target times with numerous new personal bests set.  Over the two days the Otters collected 56 medals from 139 individual swims, consisting of 29 golds,10 silvers and 17 bronzes.

The Diss Otters squad members were Callum Blair, Grace Greenhalf, Sophia Pickering, Rosie Munnings, Kara O’Dell, Lottie Gates, Shannon Evans, Imogen Grimes, Alex Jackson, Olivia Chapman, Daniel Bachu, Isaac Bachu, Matthew Tatum, Freya Button, Cassia Miller, Ottilie Miller, Max Ashken, Barney Clarke, Joel Clarke, Yasmin Brown, Harry Button, Alise Small, Thea Irvine and Matthew Munnings.

Thanks go to Sharon, Scott and Teresa for their help and also to the clubs’ officials for carrying out their duties poolside.  The swimmers can now have a break from competition until after Christmas, but they will all still be training hard over the festive period with those County Championships looming in the new year.  For details on joining the club contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427735.

A relatively inexperienced Diss Otters squad took to the water at Thetfords Waterworld pool on Saturday evening to take part in the Norfolk Junior League.  Taking on teams of 9 to 12 year olds from Thetford Dolphins, West Norfolk, Dereham Otters and UEA City of Norwich, the youngsters from Diss were placed a creditable fourth at the end of the event, picking up 8 race wins and finishing only 24 points behind winners Thetford.

The Junior League Finals take place in February with Diss likely to be first or second seeds in the B final.  Final scores were Thetford 146, Dereham 138, City of Norwich 133, Diss 122 and West Norfolk 113.
The Diss team were Toby Townsend, Adam Parker, Finlay High, William Brown, Callum Blair, Harvey Gates, Christopher Tatum, Harry Button, Sophia Pickering, Tiggy Miller, Rosie Munnings, Ellesha Close, Alise Small, Olivia Chapman, Kara O’Dell and Cassia Miller.
Thanks to the head coach Jamie Rush and poolside helpers Matthew Tatum and Ottilie Miller, as well as all the support from parents and families in the stands.
Anyone interested in joining the club can contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427735.

Diss Otters swimmer Matthew Tatum had the honour of representing Norfolk in the National Inter Counties gala at Ponds Forge, Sheffield at the weekend.

Matthew took part in the Individual Medley relay for his age group and also swam a personal best in the 100m backstroke race.

Swimmers at the Diss club are now concentrating their efforts on qualifying for the Norfolk County Championships which are held in January.  Competitors have to reach an entry time specific to their age. These times have to be swum at licenced galas and the next one for the majority of the Diss Otters will be the Great Yarmouth clubs Winter Wipeout gala held on the first weekend in December.

Before that the club are taking part in two team events, the Mark Davis Trophy at Thetford and also the first round of the Norfolk Junior League.  For anyone interested in joining the club contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427735.

Trying to keep up with the swimmers from Diss Otters Swimming Club this weekend proved to be a near impossible task with four separate events taking place.

The annual Diss Otters club championships got underway on Thursday with various races taking place over the next two weeks during usual club nights at Diss Leisure Centre.

Saturday night saw swimmers competing in two galas – firstly, at the Riverside Pool in Norwich thirteen of the clubs younger members took part in a development gala organised by Great Yarmouth Swimming Club. Some great results by the Otters led to them achieving numerous pb’s and winning 7 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals with clean sweeps of first, second and third in both the boys 10 year old butterfly and breaststroke events.

The second gala on Saturday evening was the Fenland League Final which took place at Newmarket Leisure Centre, where a team of 9 to 15 year olds from the Diss club led the five strong field from start to finish over a programme of 47 races. Otters swimmers finished top 3 in 39 of those events – winning 17. At the end of the night despite being pushed all the way by City of Ely, Diss lifted the trophy (see picture) winning by a margin of 9 points. Final scores Diss 176, Ely 167, Bottisham 144, First Strokes 131, Mildenhall 75.

Finally on Sunday three Otters travelled to Luton with the Norfolk squad to take part in the Junior Inter Counties gala. Cameron Day, Matthew Munnings and Thea Irvine all competed with great credit in a variety of individual and relay events but ultimately Norfolk couldn’t get close to the head of the points chart, with Essex crowned champions, from Suffolk second and Hertfordshire third.

Thanks to all coaches and poolside volunteers for their help over the weekend.

Anyone interested in joining Diss Otters can contact head coach Jamie Rush on 07738 427735.