News

Posted on

Diss Otters at the Norfolk County Championships 2018

Diss Otters had a successful time at this year’s County Championships held at UEA Sportspark over the last two weekends.

The twelve years old category for boys saw Barney Clarke scoop County golds in the 100 breaststroke, 50 breaststroke, 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke.

Rosie Munnings won the Otters other gold in the twelve years old girls 100 butterfly.

Over the fortnight Diss won five gold, six silver and five bronze medals in the Individual races and another three bronzes in the County Relay Gala which took place on the second Sunday afternoon.

Back in the individual races Otters finished in the top eight in fifty two races out of a total of one hundred and fifty eight swims and also achieved many new personal best times.

Cameron Day and Matthew Munnings also both received their county colours for representing Norfolk four times from ASA East Region president Stuart Murray.

 

A big thank you to all the clubs officials, coaches and volunteers for making the gala a successful one for Diss.

Posted on

Diss Otters Sprint Open Gala – Event Report

Diss Otters held their biggest event of the year when the Diss Otters Sprint Open Gala took place at the UEA Sportspark last Sunday.

Nearly 250 swimmers from clubs in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire turned up in force, and produced some great action in the pool for the large crowd to cheer on and enjoy.

The Otters sent a squad of over 50 competitors taking part in 329 individual swims over distances between 50m and 400m.

Although the quality of the opposition was extremely tough Diss still came away with 60 medals (16 gold, 17 silver and 27 bronze), with a further 46 swims finishing in the top 6.

As with most galas swimmers are always looking to improve their times and Diss came away with a fantastic 59% of swims resulting in new personal bests.

Medal winners on the day for the Otters were Jude Ashken, Max Ashken, Daniel Bachu, Callum Blair, Max Brookes, Amber Daly, Cameron Day, Lottie Gates, Imogen Grimes, Thea Irvine, Evie Kemp, Matthew Munnings, Rosie Munnings, Sophia Pickering, Rowan Shearer, Matthew Tatum, Phoebe Tovell and Maddie Wood.

Posted on

Diss Otters Win Medals Galore!

A team of sixteen swimmers from Diss Otters took part in two days of action in the pool at West Suffolk Swimming Clubs Neate Meet last weekend.

They came away with 31 medals (15 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze) and another 33 top 6 finishes.

From a total of 118 individual swims the Diss team recorded an amazing 73 personal best times.

Third in the overall standings for the top girl trophy at the Neate Meet

Highlights included multiple golds for Callum Blair, Thea Irvine, Matthew Munnings and Rosie Munnings. Rosie (pictured) also finished a very creditable third in the overall standings for the top girl trophy.

The club now look forward to Sunday 15th October which sees the annual Diss Otters Open being held at the UEA Sportspark.

The Diss Otters squad members were Daniel Bachu, Callum Blair, Harry Button, Olivia Chapman, Oslo Chapman, Shannon Evans, Harvey Gates, Lottie Gates, Thea Irvine, Alex Jackson, Lily-Anne Jones, Isaac Looker, Matthew Munnings, Rosie Munnings, Kara O’Dell and Matthew Tatum.

Posted on

Diss Otters Busy Weekend

Swimmers from Diss Otters were kept busy over the weekend with three nights of competition.

Friday and Sunday night saw nearly 80 swimmers take part in the ongoing Club Championships held at Diss Leisure Centre, with some great swims by competitors of all ages, over a variety of distances. A full report on this event will appear after the clubs presentation night in the new year.

Saturday night saw two squads of swimmers sent to compete in galas at the UEA Sportspark and also St.James swimming pool in Kings Lynn.

The Sportspark gala was a development event hosted by the Great Yarmouth club. Eight Otters took to the pool coming away with a fantastic haul of 7 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals from only 34 races of which 20 resulted in new personal best times.

The sixteen swimmers that went to Kings Lynn were taking part in the final of the Fenland Senior League with four other clubs, the event was hosted by the West Norfolk club whose swimmers powered to victory with a massive total of 207 points.

Diss laid second during the early part of the evening but with two races to go had slipped back to fourth. However by virtue of two second place finishes in those final two events the Otters managed to snatch third place by just two points.

Final scores were West Norfolk 207, Wisbech 139, Diss Otters 122, Thetford 120 and March 111.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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)

Posted on

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

Posted on

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.