West Norfolk Swimming Club’s Junior Fenland League team, made up of young swimmers aged nine to thirteen, finished their 2023 campaign with a solid performance in the A Final on the 16th September

Taking place at Whittlesey, the A Final saw the four teams with the best record across the season’s fixtures compete head to head in one last competition to settle their final league placing for the year.

After an incredibly successful season, Oliver Kenny’s squad found themselves competing against St Ives, Wisbech and the City of Peterborough’s A Team.

Andrej Talapins got the ball rolling in the evening-opening 100M Individual Medley for the Boy’s 12 Year’s category, with Rejus Mazeika providing a second place finish shortly after in the Boys’ 13 Year’s 50M Backstroke.

Harriet Wells struck gold in the Girls’ 9 Years’ 50M Freestyle, but the search for a third West Norfolk victory was initially illusive.

Joshua Norris, Nellie Chadderton and Arya Richardson secured West Norfolk three runner up spots in four races. Further silvers followed for Talapins, Chadderton and Cory Hill.

However, as the evening hit its midway point at race 23 of 45 – the Boys’ 13 Years 50M Butterfly, it was Talapins who was the star once again by finally claiming West Norfolk’s third set of full points, racing Euan White of Peterborough down to the wire to take victory by one one-hundredth of a second.

West Norfolk then went on to dominate the closing relay event to end the evening 27 points clear of their nearest challenger Ely and head into the second round of the season sat in second place of the thirteen-team league table – positioned behind table topping Wisbech on tie break alone.

Second place finishes were once again delivered in plentiful supply in the the races that followed, courtesy of Martha More, Oliver Veale and Richardson, before Mazeika took West Norfolk’s fourth victory in the Boys’ 13 Years’ 50M Freestyle.

Leo Harrington repeated the feat shortly afterwards in the Boys’ 9 Years’ 50M Backstroke to kickstart a strong final run of races which saw further wins from Veale in the Boys’ 11 Years’ 50M Breaststroke, Mazeika in the Boys’ 13 Years’ 100M IM and Ruby Stewardbrown in the corresponding event for the girls.

With the final at its end West Norfolk placed third on the evening’s scoreboard with 144 points, but had done enough to lock down second place in the year’s league table, finishing one point ahead of City of Peterborough.