West Norfolk Swimming Club were represented by five swimmers at the British Swimming National Championships, held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield from Friday 22nd to Thursday 28th July – with the club’s swimmers in action from the second day of competition.
Nathan Wells kicked off proceedings on Saturday morning with a twentieth place amongst Britain’s best in the 400 Meter Freestyle with a time of 4 minutes and 8.34 seconds.
Freddie Laws was up next, achieving the same placing as Wells had in his 100 Meter Breaststroke as he came home in 1 minute and 6.29 seconds.
Wells and first-time national qualifier Tobias Oglesby were both in action in the splash-and-dash 50 Meter Backstroke. Wells took 13th place in the 19 years and over category with a strong swim only one hundredth of a second off his besttime, whilst Oglesby swam a new personal best of 27.57 seconds to place 13th in the 18 years age group.
Sarah O’Brien was the fourth and final West Norfolk swimmer in the pool on the Saturday, swimming the 50 Meter Breaststroke in 34.51 seconds to secure a 17th place finish.
Sunday saw Wells return to the pool for the 100 Meter Backstroke with a swim of 58 seconds exactly, placing 17th, before racing the 400 Meter Individual Medley on Monday Morning. Swimming one of his favoured events, Wells put in a season’s best swim of 4 minutes 34.91 seconds; coming agonisingly close to a place in the finals with his eleventh place finish.
Tuesday morning saw Freddie Laws back in action early doors for the 200 Meter Breaststroke, placing 17th in a time of 2 minutes 25.28 seconds.
That afternoon saw a highlight of the week as Laws, Oglesby and Nathan Wells were joined by Joe Wells for the Men’s 4 x 100 Meter Medley Relay – the first time in the club’s history that a relay team had competed on a national stage. Oglesby swam the opening backstroke leg, doing so in 60.18 seconds before handing over to Laws for the Breastroke. 1 minute and 6.51 seconds later, Laws was himself handing over to Joe Wells for the Butterfly, who swam his leg in 60.33 seconds on his national debut. Nathan Wells then brought the team home with a 52.29 second Freestyle leg to secure a 20th place finish for West Norfolk, with the quartet bettering their entry time.
Wednesday saw Nathan Wells swim a time of 2 minutes 7.21 seconds to secure a spot in the 200 Individual Medley, qualifying ninth fastest. That evening he went on to better his time to 2 minutes 6.99 seconds – again taking 9th place.
As the event drew to a close on Thursday 28th July, Nathan Wells swam a 2 minute 8.14 second 200 Meter Backstroke to end his nationals with a 15th place finish, whilst Sarah O’Brien was back for the 100 Meter Breaststroke, placing seventeenth with a time of 1 minute 15.17 seconds.
Attention now turns to the Swim England Championships, which start on the 5th August after a week to rest and recharge.
