Record Entries at Club Championships 

North Norfolk Vikings Swimming Club had a record number of entries when it staged its Annual Club Championships at the Victory Pool in North Walsham.

In the 100m freestyle, there was an exciting finish when Louis Goultry won by a finger tip by breaking a minute in 59.20 from Isaac Buchan’s  1:0123 with club captain Ashley Jones taking third in 1:03.63.

The 200m freestyle did not disappoint either. In front of  a pack house of spectators,  Louis and Isaac went head to head again. Lewis was the early pace maker but Isaac came back on the last 75m to record the fastest time in 2:13.85    from Lewis’ 2:18.16

In contrast, the 200m breastroke, saw Sam Morton and Emily Beighton win their respective races easily with Sam going  2:57.39 and Emily 3:12.33.

11 Year olds Lily Dear and Grace Parker were involved in some close races through out. None closer than the 50m freestyle when it seemed that they “dead heated” both touching first but the timing had Lily winning by a split second in 36.22 from Graces’ 36.62. This proved to be the most popular event of the championships attracting 18 competitors. Grace won six gold medals beating Lily into second place twice and Lily won five golds beating Grace into second place four times. The two 11 year olds left the championships with 11 gold medals between them.

For eight year old twin sisters Holly and Tessa Cartwright they swam against each other on a number of occasions over 50m. In the freestyle Holly won gold, defeating a field of thirteen in 48.84 and sister Tessa was runner up in 51.44. The backstroke followed and again it was Holly who won her second gold in 57.48 from Tessa’s silver in 1:01.85 respectively. The twins’ elder sister Isla, aged ten, also collected a freestyle bronze over the same distance with 53.96.in her age group.

It was five wins in a row for 20 year old Senior Leah Harris who broke 30 seconds for 50m freestyle in 28.93. Leah then completely dominated the 100m Individual Medley in 1:09.91 proving what an excellent athlete she is. Meanwhile, the race was still on for the consolation places when club captain Jess Seamark touched in second with 1:29.45 and Rebecca Burrows third in !:29.68 respectively

Emilia Sequeira-Reis’ endeavour was simply outstanding. Although she did not medal the 11 year old also swam five  events. The 50m backstroke in 1:07.10 100m freestyle in 2:10.78 and 200m breaststroke in 5:18.11 to highlight just three.

There were two more initiatives introduced for the first time this year. The club invited  “Little Fish Swim School” from Norwich to take part and  they swam very well. It was also deemed a “licenced gala” which meant that any times recorded would be official. Subsequently, Vikings have achieved  a record 28 County qualifying times this year for next year’s County Championships.

Thanks and congratulations to all who took part.

Viking Swimmers Make Golden Start To Season.

The Club made a strong start to their season at the Iceni Gala in Dereham. They won 18 golds, 26 silvers and 18 bronze medals in various age categories

Isaac Buchan left the competition with four gold medals. The 14 year old completely dominated the 200m backstroke in 2:24.68 winning by 35 seconds and recording the second fastest time out of 14  across all the age ranges. Isaac went onto to win golds in the 50m Butterfly 30.08,100m backstroke, 1.09.49  and the 50m backstroke in 32.31.

For Emily Morton, leaving galas with out a medal is currently unheard at the moment as she is swimming very well. The 15 year old continued her form by winning three golds. 100m freestyle 1.07.25, 50m Freestyle 31.24  and the 50m backstroke 37.88.

Harry Hudson aged 18, also had three golds. In the 100m freestyle  he defeated a field of twelve touching in 56.42 50 in his age group, only a split second a head of his nearest rival. However, he achieved the over all fastest time in the gala out of 57 who swam this distance. He went onto claim two more golds, the 50m backstroke 30.33 and the 100m butterfly 1.03.33 respectively.

It was also three in a row for 20 year old Leah Harris 100m butterfly (1.08.31) 50m  Freestyle 28.75 and the 100m Freestyle (1.02.21)

Vikings made it a clean sweep of medals in the 200m breaststroke with George Edridge touching first for gold in 3.21.64, Razvan Platon silver in 3:28.31 and George’s 13 year old twin Zak, took the bronze in 3.29.84. The twins’ sister Mily, who is only in her first year of competition, did not win a medal but her time of 44.13 was good enough for the 10 year old to compete in 50m Freestyle in next year’s County Championships.

Ruby Tracey struck gold In the 200m breaststroke. The 17 year old finished in a winning time of 3.05.60 to take gold. In the 100m it was silver in 1.25.64   and over 50m it was the bronze in 39.02.

There was a gold medal each for Emily Beighton,(100m breastroke 1.29.53)  and Reuben Seaman (50m freestyle 35.28) 

There was further breastroke success when Lily Dear took a bronze in the 200m breaststroke in 3:49.16 and then added a silver on her 50m in  50.06 respectively. In her age group was Grace Parker who too was successful on backstroke when she won bronze over 100m in 1:28.62 respectively.

Anna Thurston went 3.38.82 for the  200m backstroke  and subsequently reduced her personal best time by twenty seconds collecting the bronze medal.

Other Viking Medalists were  Noah Buchan silver 100m freestyle  1.08.37 50, silver 50m  freestyle 28.62  silver 50m backstroke  36.39 bronze 200m freestyle  2.26.91and silver 200m IM 2.52.22, Bebe King  bronze 50m breaststroke 50.71 and bronze 50m freestyle, 35.02 Esme Seaman silver 50m backstroke 40.60 and bronze 50m butterfly 40.74 respectively.

Vikings were also represented by Winnie Browne, Evie Bates, Bailee Beighton  Leona Scott, Lewis Goulty, Sam Morton, Ashley Jones,.Fearne and Rosa Sadler

After the gala, our Lead Coach Sam said:

I knew we had the potential to do well but to be honest I never imagined we would do so well with 63 medals. It shows that the team are all eager to improve.

Noah is Scottish National Champion

Noah Buchan won the 12 years National 2.K open water event at the Scottish Nationals held at Castle Semple Loch in Fife, west of Glasgow in what was quite a choppy loch, but with some sun in between the rain and water temp of 18.5c, Noah was victorious in 31.59,  03.4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival to be crowned Scottish National Age Group Open Water Champion.

Due to an admin error Swim England would not allow him to swim but being half Scottish and qualifying at an event he was allowed to enter. After the swim Noah said:

“I am just amazed that I  won and happy and  grateful to have been able to swim in a national championship.”

Lily makes waves at Swimming Nationals

Lily Herring  competed in Sheffield at the National Summer Meet (50m) This is Swim England’s biggest domestic swimming event of the year.

Lily, qualified in sixth place in the multi classification heats when she  went 1:19.38 for the 100m freestyle  However, in the final, the 15 year old looked very determined and  after 50m she was third. However, Lily was pushed all the way but was not prepared to relinquish the position and held it right to the finish in an improved time of  1:18.08. However, owing to a complex Swim England permutation, based on a points tariff, Lily was placed sixth 

This did not deter her as she had the satisfaction of coming third in the race with the third fastest time in the final and had two more events to look forward to. In the 50m freestyle, she was seeded fifth and this is where she finished in the final in a personal best time of 36.30. In the 200m Individual Medley, Lily found it tough going but finished in 3.40.62. In the 400m S10 freestyle she gained another fifth place after eight hard  lengths of the 50m pool in 5.51.38. After the gala, her coach, Sam Watts said:

“Lily is having an excellent year in the pool so far. Her application and tenacity has been exemplary and its just reward that she swam in the nationals. I believe that this is just the beginning of what is to come”

Twins Bag A Gold Each At Gala

Our swimmers  George and Zak Edridge,Reuben Seaman, Emily Mortpn and Bebe King  won 14 medals between them at a Gala dubbed Mid Summer Madness held at the UEA Sports Park.

George won his first gold when he went 5.32.44 wiining by eight seconds for 400m freestyle in his age group. In the 100m breaststroke he also achieved a silver in 1.33.71 but he was beaten by his brother Zak who touched in a gold medal time of 1.32.67 in a finger tip finish.

In the 200m breaststroke, sibling rivalries were rife again but there was a change of fortune in that George beat Zak to take a bronze in 3.22.09 from Zak’s  fourth place time of 3.25.56. as both the 13 year olds recorded personal best times

George’s second silver came in the  200m I M completing the course in another personal best time of 2.56.96 as swimmers must swim all strokes in the event. 

Reuben meanwhile did nine events and recorded a personal best on every swim. Subsequently the ten year old  won seven medals in total, two silvers and five bronze . When asked about his favourite event he said

‘I did 9 events this weekend but my favourite was the 50 Fly, I really wanted a good personal best so I just went for it, put my head down and did as many strokes as I could between each breath’  Reuben finished third in 45.11

However, his best swim was the 400 freestyle.He raced another boy the entire way battling it out for 3rd and 4th place in their age group, it came down to the last 25m where Reuben really accelerated  and got the medal.  He also knocked 44 seconds off his long course time.

Emily Morton continued her consistency by being in the medals again and it was the 400m freestyle when  she came home with a bronze, leaving sixteen competitors behind her completing the course in 4.59.43. Subsequently, the 14 year old improved her time by eight seconds. This is the fourth consecutive outing for the Viking where she has medaled. Bebe King, aged 12, had a silver in the 100m butterfly when 12 year old touched in 1.55.90 covering two lengths of the pool.

Thanks to all our swimmers who took part

BOUDICCA

Michael Sayer, aged 12, won a hat-trick of gold medals at the Boudicca Long Course Swimming Gala at the UEA Sports Park, Norwich and competitors from Norfolk and beyond provided excellent competition over two days.

His first success was in the 100m freestyle, Michael recorded a personal best of 1:14.72 – a four second improvement.  In the  backstroke, he hit the pad in 1:20.55 to take gold and completed the hat-trick with 3:47.29 over 200m breaststroke  to claim his third gold. Michael went on to win two silvers and one  bronze over the competition,  recording  personal best times in every event. At the end of the gala, Michael said:-

“My best swim was the 100m freestyle as I took 4 seconds off my personal best and beat some other swimmers in my heat who before the gala had achieved faster times than me. Training is hard work but this makes it worthwhile.”

Ellen Eccleston proved to all that she is one of the best competitors in Norfolk when the 16 year old won the 200m Individual Medley  In a close race she brought it home on the freestyle leg of the event in a close finish touching the pad in 2:33.16 beating nine others in her age group and recording one of the fastest times over all. However, she had to settle for three silvers in her specialist breastsroke events.

Ironically, in her specialist breststroke events, she had to settle for silver medals. In the 200m her start was sublime as she swam into the stroke with alacrity and perfect timing, pacing the race well. In a surge for the finish it appeared that she would offer more but the electronic timing had her in second place in 2:33.16. In the same race fellow Viking Rebecca Burrows was sixth in 3:34.62.as she swam to the best of her ability. Ellen had two more silver successes in Breastroke. For  the 100m (1.17.70) and the 50m (36.67) and then claimed another  this time over 50m Butterfly with 31.87.

When asked about Ellen’s current progress, lead coach Sam  responded with:-

“Ellen is swimming exceptionally well at the moment but it’s unrealistic to expect her to come first in every race or record a personal best every time she swims. As she approaches the Nationals next month, I believe we will see the best from Ellen.”

Toby Corfield bagged five medals in his respective age group. He won gold in the 100m butterfly in 1:44.57, easily winning by a four second margin. Toby, aged 11, also achieved two silvers and two bronze medals respectively.

As ever, Reuben Seaman did not disappoint.  He came out on top this time with a gold medal in the 400m Individual Medley swimming two lengths of the 50m pool on each stroke. The 11  year old finished on 7.48.28.

Medals for Emily Morton are becoming routine and she did not disappoint over the week end by winning two freestyle medals. The 400m for silver in  5:10.29and in the 200m a bronze  2:25.06  respectively.

There was more success from our seniors. Ruby Tracey took silver in the 100m breastroke with 1.27.46    Sophie Mc Kee also had a silver on the 50m backstroke touching in 34.20 respectively.

 Also representing Vikings were Captain Ashley Jones, Amy-Rose Thomas,  Sam Morton, Harry Hudson, Leona Scott, Razvan Platon, Mia Turner, Lily Dear, Grace Parker, Evie Bates, Esme Seaman, Emily Beighton, George and Zak Edridge.

Vikings won 6 Golds, 13 Silvers and 4 Bronze medals – our thanks and congratulations to all our swimmers.