Great Yarmouth Swimming Club were well represented at the Norfolk County Championships which were held over two weekends at the UEA pool in Norwich.

The championships ended with a great race in the boys’ 16+ 50m butterfly, and GYSC were proud to have a representative — Ryan Webb. Indeed the club were represented in all but two of the finals over the four days of competition.

The Yarmouth swimmers did themselves proud, swimming with spirit and determination and supporting each other.

The stand-out performer was Ben Every, who with astounding speed and confidence saw off pretty much all competition in his age group, coming away with an amazing 11 gold medals and one bronze. After winning his finals, in many cases by a considerable distance, Ben is now Norfolk champion in boys’ age 10/11 in 50m free, 100m free, 200m free, 400m free, 50m back, 100m back, 200m back, 50m fly, 100m breast, 200m breast and 200m IM.

Other Great Yarmouth swimmers who won county medals included Jasmine Coleman (13) who took a great silver in the 200m fly and a bronze in the 50m fly. She also reached the final in the 100m fly where she was just squeezed out of the medals into fourth place. Anna Pearce (15) won a bronze medal in the 200m fly and also reached the final in the 100m fly, finishing fifth. Jacob Zandbergen (15) swam strongly throughout, taking a bronze in the 50m free in 27.55 seconds. He also finalled in the 100m free (5th), 50m back (5th) and was just out of the medals in the 200m back.

Swimming in the youngest age group Charlie Foulger was delighted to make the boys’ age 10/11 100m freestyle final, finishing seventh.

Harvey Larner (13) reached four finals, the 50m free (6th), 50m back (7th) the 100m back (4th) and 50m fly (8th). Tommy Chandler showed a return to form, making the final in the competitive boys 16+ age group in the 50m breaststroke (8th) and the 100m breaststroke (6th). He also finished fifth in the 200m breaststroke and was just pushed out of the medals by 0.17 in the 400m free.

Amelia Dibble reached an impressive five finals, showing her potential across the different events. Ollie Grimmer continues to improve and was delighted to reach his first final — finishing fifth in the 100m backstroke. Anna Duffield was happy to be back in the finals this year, reaching the girls’ 16+ 100m fly final where she was eighth. Ryan Webb had a positive championships, reaching the boys 16+ finals in 50m back (6th), 100m back (4th) and 50m fly (6th).

The Norfolk County Championships is raced in a 50m long course pool and for many of the younger GYSC swimmers it was the first time they would have competed in this format.

The final day also brought a surprise for the ladies’ 4x50m freestyle relay team, who had been part of the Norfolk County Relay Gala on Sunday, February 3. Having thought they had finished fourth, they had actually finished third so were each given a bronze medal. The team was Jenna Utting, Kelsey Wilson, Taylor Hudson and Anna Duffield.