The Swim England East Region Short Course Championships were held at the Inspire Luton Sports Village across three days from the 4th to the 6th November.
West Norfolk Swimming Club had a sizable team of swimmers qualify for the competition, although Esmie Kidman was the sole representative in action on the opening evening for the Women’s 800 Metre Freestyle, putting in a personal best performance of 9 minutes 53.70 seconds to start the weekend on a high.
The West Norfolk section of poolside was much busier come Saturday morning with Robert Addis and Joe Wells opening proceedings with a pair of season’s best in the 200 Metre Individual Medley, which also saw Freddie Laws swim a new personal best time of 2 minutes and 9.5 seconds and Nathan Wells qualify for the final in a time of 2 minutes 7.35 seconds, which he then lowered to a season’s best 2.03.98 en route to first place and a regional title.
The Men’s 50 Metre Freestyle saw personal best swims for Laws, Nathan Wells and Tobias Oglesby along with a season’s best time for Nedas Tkacenko and string swims from Addis, Joe Wells and Jake Lammas.
Next up was the Women’s 200 Metre Butterfly and a season’s best 2 minutes 38.41 seconds for Elyn Lauder, whilst Millie Harris – a dual registered swimmer for West Norfolk and Wisbech SC – bagged a new personal best as she came home in 2 minutes 37.10 seconds.
The 100 Metre Breaststroke saw West Norfolk secure representation in both the Women’s and Men’s Finals, courtesy of Sarah O’Brien and Freddie Laws respectively, with Molly Lee and Alex Florance also securing season’s best times.
Come the finals, O’Brien swam a strong race to fifth place, whilst Laws lowered his time from the heats by over a second to take second place and secure himself a regional silver medal.
The Women’s 100 Metre IM saw O’Brien swim a personal best 1.06.93 to secure another finals spot, which saw her finish one place higher than her swim in the heats.
Addis, Oglesby and Nathan Wells were in action again for the 100M Backstroke, with Oglesby swimming a personal best time and Wells moving through to the final where he secured a bronze medal in a tight finish.
The 200 Metre Freestyle put Wells through to his third final of the day after a season’s best swim in the heats – where Joe Wells, Addis and Oglesby also all set their best times of the season so far. The final, held mere minutes after that for the 100 Metre Backstroke, saw Wells come home in sixth position.
The last event of Saturday saw personal bests for O’Brien and Harris in the 50 Metre Butterfly, along with season’s bests for Addis, Oglesby and Joe Wells.
West Norfolk’s Sunday programme opened up with sprint races; the Men’s 50 Metre Backstroke seeing a personal best for Oglesby and finals qualification for Nathan Wells whilst the Women’s 50 Metre Freestyle brought a season’s best for O’Brien and a personal best time of 28.71 for Erin Woodrow.
The 200 Metre Breaststroke saw a hat trick of personal bests for West Norfolk, courtesy of Florence, Laws and O’Brien with the latter two also booking spots in the evenings finals.
The 100 Metre Butterfly saw season’s bests for Addis and Joe Wells alongside new personal bests for Laws and Harris, before the Men’s 100 Metre IM saw Laws and Nathan Wells qualify for the final.
In the 100 Metre Freestyle, Laws and Oglesby took new personal bests whilst Lammas, Addis and Joe Wells swam season’s bests.
The 50 Metre Breaststroke saw another pair of finals spots secured for West Norfolk, with Laws swimming a season’s best swim to reach the Men’s final and Molly Lee repeating the feat to take her place in the Women’s.
Lammas and Harvey Isle swam season’s best times in the 200 Meter Backstroke before Nathan Wells confirmed his third finals spot of the day with a 2 minute 9.07 second swim.
Like the previous day, Sunday’s Finals Session promised gruellingly short turn around times.
Wells was up first in the Men’s 50 Metre Backstroke final, swimming a 26.57 to take third place and with it a bronze medal.
Next was Laws’ 200 Metre Breaststroke where a fiercely contested competition saw Laws chasing down the early leader throughout the race, ultimately achieving a personal best time and a silver medal, after coming tantalisingly close to a regional title.
The Women’s Final for the same event saw Sarah O’Brien better her time from the heats and thus once again set a new personal best as a strong 2 minute, 38.11 second swim saw her take fourth place.
Wells and Laws then faced off in the 100 Metre IM Final. Laws set another new personal best on his way to sixth place, whilst Wells saw off a close field to take the gold medal – his second of the championships.
Wells then finished off his weekend with a sixth place finish in the 200 Metre Backstroke Final, before Laws and Molly Lee closed out proceedings for West Norfolk in the 50 Metre Breaststroke with Laws finishing fifth in the Men’s and Lee taking the matching position in the Women’s.
