A team of 13 swimmers from Great Yarmouth Swimming Club took part in the November Novice Gala, held by Lowestoft & Oulton Broad Swimming Club at the Water Lane pool on Saturday.

This was an open gala, giving an opportunity for swimmers in the junior squads to compete, gaining valuable race experience and for many, new personal bests.

Great Yarmouth put in a fabulous performance, coming away with a haul of 19 medals, nine golds, eight silvers and two bronze.

Medal winners for the girls included Ava Patterson, who swam confidently in the eight and under category, taking gold in the 25m butterfly along with silver in the 25m breaststroke and 25m freestyle. Ruby Copping showed great consistency, taking silver in three races in the age nine and over, 25m breaststroke, 25m freestyle and 100m individual medley.

There was also a great gold medal for Grace Turner in the girls’ nine and over 50m freestyle and a strong silver for Preethi Saravanan in the nine and over 50m backstroke.

The boys also excelled, with four taking the top podium spot.

Charlie Foulger showed skill across the evening, taking three golds in his eight and under category for 25m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle.

Cameron Loveland also had a great evening, showing his continued improvement, coming away with the gold in the nine and over 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke and a bronze in the 50m backstroke.

Thomas Smith and Oscar Rose were both competing in the nine and overs. with Oscar winning the gold in the 25m freestyle and taking bronze in the 25m backstroke, and Thomas winning a great gold in the 100m individual medley and silvers in the 25m butterfly and 25m breaststroke.

Other swimmers who competed were Emma Land, Binnie-Rose Tyler, Luke Hurt, Morgan Twose and Isla Marshall.

The swimmers all had an unexpected boost during the evening, when head coach Liam Harvey arrived, having come straight from attending regionals.

His encouragement of and interest in the junior swimmers really inspired them.

Lead junior coach Rhianna James was delighted with how the swimmers performed, and the number of personal bests times that were achieved across the team.