Seven West Norfolk Swimming Club members were in action across two Swim England National competitions in the last fortnight – with one of them taking a national title.
Firstly, Esmie Kidman, Jamie Wilson and Wiktoria Marcinek contested the Swim England National Open Water Championships at Thryburgh Lakes, Rotherham.
West Norfolk’s day began with Kidman’s 5km race, a distance in which she is the reigning Norfolk champion. A strong and consistent swim saw Kidman take 16th place overall with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 9 seconds.
Next up were the 3km races with West Norfolk represented by both Wilson and Marcinek.
Wilson’s age category took to the water first and a fantastic performance saw him take 14th place overall in 35 minutes and 45 seconds.
Marcinek rounded off the day for West Norfolk with a swim of 39 minutes and 29 minutes to come home in 22nd place amongst her age category.
Action then turned away from lakeside and to the pool at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, for the Swim England National Summer Meet.
Molly Lee and Sarah O’Brien represented West Norfolk on the opening day, both contesting the 100 metre breaststroke.
A fast swim from Lee saw her finish in 13th place overall with a time of 1 minute and 15.09 seconds, whilst a gutsy swim from O’Brien saw her clock a time of 1 minute 17 seconds, just three months into her recovery from an operation.
The following day saw Rhys Burrell make his national debut in the 200m breaststroke – swimming close to his all time best with a time of 2 minutes and 39.39 seconds.
Millie Harris also took to the water the same day, qualifying for the final of the 100m butterfly with a personal best swim of 1 minute and 6.84 seconds.
Come the final that evening, Harris swam a time of 1 minute and 7.30 seconds to take 10th place overall.
After a day without a West Norfolk swimmer in action, Molly Lee returned to the pool on Saturday with a swim of 34.30 seconds in the 50m butterfly, narrowly outside her season’s best time, to take a 12th place finish.
The final day of competition on Sunday saw Harris return for the 50m butterfly, swimming a season’s best time of 29.65 seconds in the heats – qualifying her through to the final with a number two seeding.
A dominant swim in the final saw Harris lead from start to finish, smashing both her time from the heats and her lifetime best to take the national title and the gold medal in a time of 28.74 seconds.
West Norfolk’s head coach Sarah Vanderloo had nothing but praise for Millie’s performance and the efforts of all club members.
She said: “Millie’s gold medal is a great achievement for both her and the club and puts the cherry on top of a successful two weeks of national competition for our swimmers.”
