Jack's New Record

Jack Utting proved to be a talent for the future as he qualified for the Eastern Regional Age Group Championships which took place in Norwich over the past two weekends. It was his first time in qualifying for this competition and as the Eastern Region is made of up of all swimming clubs in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex, this was quite an achievement in itself.

Jack was not over-awed by the occasion and took things in his stride. Although somewhat of a ‘dark horse' at the beginning, Jack quietly set about qualifying for all the finals of the events in which he competed and by the end of the two weekends he had made his mark and become the competitor his 11 year age group most  feared.

In the final of the 200 metre breaststroke he claimed a creditable sixth place and went two places better in the 200 metre freestyle, narrowly missing out on a medal. Despite his low seeding in the 100 metre breaststroke, he swam an excellent last length and finished fast to claim the bronze medal. In the gruelling 200 individual medley, where he had to swim a length (50 metres) of each stroke, he swam to his strengths and was touched by a fingertip into second place. Jacks favoured event is backstroke and by swimming controlled heats he managed to save most of his energy for the finals. In the 200 metres he again finished in second place, his time being good enough to claim a place at the National Age Groups later this year. Now there was to be no stopping Jack and in the 100 metre backstroke he achieved the Gold medal, his power in the last length proving too much for his opponents, he won by over 2 seconds. The time he recorded was a new Regional Age Group record for the event and again gave him a place to swim the 'Nationals' later this year which are being held at Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield.

British Age Group Category points (BAGCAT) are awarded by points for the best individual medley time, best 100 metres time, best 200 metres form and best distance freestyle. The points add up, with the better the time the better the points and awards are made for the top 3 in the Region for each age group. Jack proudly achieved a second place in the BAGCATs and also received a silver medal for his award in this.

Club coach, Garry Jarvis commented that Jack's swims were a credit to him and all his hard work. He has trained hard for the past 12 months for these championships and had peaked at the correct time. Swimming can be a lonely and gruelling sport with long hours in the pool, but Jack just gets on with it all and his reward of his medals is justified. Jack now ranks in the top 10 in Britain for his age in the 3 backstroke events and proudly sits in top position for both the 100m and 50m events. I am hoping that Jack's achievement in these championships will be a springboard for the club and Gt Yarmouth will have more competitors achieving these kind of results in the future.

Zoe Prettyman and Grace Hubbard also qualified and competed in the championships for the club, they both performed very well and did themselves and the club proud.