Diss Tiddlers 2010 Gala Report

Sunday, 09 May 2010 08:31

On Saturday evening Great Yarmouth Swimming Club sent a team of young swimmers to the gala at Diss to compete against teams from Diss, Dereham, Wisbech and Norwich Little Fish. For some swimmers this was their first competitive gala away from home but they were not overawed and rose to the occasion finishing overall winners, beating nearest rivals Dereham by 5 points. With 32 individual races, they achieved a tally of 25 personal best times.

At the interval, the club stood in third place with everything to swim for in the second half which they did, and capped off the evening with a win in the cannon relay which they led from start to finish.

In the 9 years age group and in his first gala for the club, Joshua Smith showed his determination by winning the freestyle. Aaron Hudson led from start to finish in the butterfly and breaststroke, both of which he considers to be his weakest events. Joshua Ford was touched into second place in an exciting finish in the backstroke. Lily Johnson was also unlucky not to win the girls backstroke, finishing second by a fingertip. Natasha Mansfield-Holly suffered from a slow start in the freestyle, but pushed herself into third place. Clarissa Burwood battled a foot injury to take a fine second place in the breaststroke and also finished fourth in her first butterfly swim for the club. The ever improving Jack Collins finished in fourth place in butterfly but overturned this result by winning the freestyle in the 10 year age group. With his determination never to be beaten Callum Stannard, left all his rivals behind easily winning the breaststroke. Joshua Clifton also achieved a fourth place in the backstroke. For the girls, Emily Acland dominated the breaststroke and won with ease. Amelia Driver came third in her backstroke and second in her freestyle. Also in her first competitive away gala for the club, Kioni Broomfield was in the closest race of the night finishing fifth in the butterfly.

The 11 year age group began with a second place for Jack Colby in the butterfly. With their introduction to competitive swimming Jamie King (breaststroke) and Rory Cushing (freestyle) had fantastic races , both taking over 10 seconds off their previous best recorded times and taking second places. This fate was also achieved by Oliver Tedstone in the backstroke. Danielle Page had a another busy night and proved her worth again, by taking the freestyle event leading from the front. Ellie Newman came out of her sick bed but despite this came a very good second in the backstroke. Suffering from a leg injury, Bethany Burwood battled on and won her breaststroke event after earlier finishing fourth in the butterfly.

Swimming up an age group, Taylor Hudson won the backstroke in the 12 years easily. Danielle Page also had to swim up an age group and was touched into second place in the butterfly. Bethany Roberts came a good third in breaststroke, and Lauren Cotton took 6 seconds off her personal best, finishing in fourth place in the freestyle. George Yusuff had to swim the breaststroke race with his goggles around his mouth after a bad start, but held on to first place, this after a second place in the butterfly. William Beck had two good third places in the backstroke and freestyle.

Final results, Gt Yarmouth 139, Dereham 135, Wisbech 127, Diss 85, Little Fish Norwich 57