May Bank Holiday
North Norfolk Vikings had to raise their standard by swimming in a gala which included clubs from across the region at the UEA Sports Park, Norwich. Swimmers found it more competitive than normal but according to their coach the experience would have done them good.
Reuben Seaman won two backstroke medals, all in personal best times He was involved in the 200m when he touched a split second ahead of his nearest rival in 2:48.22, for gold and leaving 6 swimmers behind him. Then, over the sprint distance of 50m, the 13 year old added a silver in 36.74 by another split second However, he was 2 seconds adrift of the gold but this time he left 13 behind him . Reuben swam 8 events and achieved personal best in 6 over the course of the wee-end.
There then followed two butterfly medals. Leona Scott came away with a gold in the 100m when the 12 year old touched in 1:38.00 completely dominating it finishing by a huge margin of 22 seconds.
In a lower age group category, 11 year old Lexie Parker gained bronze in 1:45.85 over the same distance. Lexie took on ten events and achieved a personal best in eight, ironically her medal success was not one of them.
To Warwick Again
The Club travelled again this time to the other side of the county to be apart of the Warwick Thompson Gala at Thetford
Sam Reynolds-Gotts won two medals in his first ever gala. It was no less than gold in the 50m butterfly when he touched in 54.73 and then took bronze in the 50m freestyle with a 42.71 respectively. The 10 year old had two further fourth places and on all four events he recorded a personal best time.
It was also first time too for 14 year old Amber Clark, who won medals in all three breaststroke events. In the 200m she came home in 3:34.12 by three one hundredths of a second. In the 100 it was another finger tip finish as she touched the pad another split second ahead of her nearest opponent for double gold in 1:40.25. However in the 50m she just lost the gold in 45.94 in another exciting close finish.
Milly also had a busy week-end. The team captain brought home two gold medals and two silvers. Her first gold came in the 100m backstroke scoring 1:30.88 and her second one came in the 200m freestyle when she bossed the event completing eight lengths of the pool in 2:45.85, fifteen seconds ahead of any other rival Her silvers were in backstroke over a 50m sprint to finish in 44.03 and 100m breaststroke in 1:50.03 respectively.
After a bout of sickness, just prior to the final session Zerif Gokmen rose to the challenge and won gold. It came in the 100m Individual Medley in a time of 1:39.64, ironically a split second out side her personal best.
Zerif had to swim 25m on all the strokes and looked particularly strong in the butterfly. However, on the last 25m the 15 year old had it all to do on the freestyle. She looked very determined and held on to win by one tenth of a second. Zerif, who has to make a 36 mile round trip each time she trains at the Victory Pool in North Walsham, was pleasantly surprised as was her coach as he explained:-
“I have to admit that neither of us expected any medal let alone gold. In the circumstances I would have been more than happy for her to have simply completed the event, but to win gold was a massive bonus.”
Emma Willimott had a very productive week-end winning three medals. There were two golds to be proud of. In the 200m freestyle she swam the first 50m fast in 40.79 and after eight lengths finished in 3:10.69 with five seconds to spare , averaging 0:48 for each 50m.
Her second gold was in the 100m Individual medley, when she had to swim all four strokes, and then came home to win the event easily in 1:46.99 with seven second to spare.
Emma completed her programme with a silver in the 50m backstroke in 48.85. missing the gold by three seconds. At the end of the gala the Viking coach said
“Emma has really improved lately the evidence being that she completed all her medal swims in personal best times and was one of a number of swimmers who did well.
Lexie Parker had a productive week end winning the 200m Individual Medley in 3:24.35 and then won double gold over the same distance in the Freestyle in with 3:09.70. There was no rest for Lexie as she won two more consolation medals. These came in two breaststroke events the 50m (54.39) for silver and 100m (1:57.56) for bronze respectively. The 11 year old also achieved in a personal best time in all her events.
Siblings Layla and Finn Callaby won eight medals between them. Finn’s best result was the 200m breaststroke when he captured gold in 4:19.25. The 11 year old went on to win two more silvers in the freestyle with 41.57 over 50m and 200m freestyle touching in 3:29.89 respectively.
The club have formed an alliance with Little Fish Swimming Club in Norwich and a number of them swam under the auspices of the Vikings for the first time and did well.
Elsie Coull, of Thorpe St Andrew, won a gold and three silvers. In the 50m Freestyle the 13 year old went 33.54. for gold in a personal best time. Switching to the Individual Medley, she completed eight lengths in 3:14.14 when she had to swim all strokes over the 200m achieving a silver medal. Her second silver was the 100m freestyle when she touched in 1:15.57 agonisingly just one tenth of a second outside the gold. However, she swam a personal best and left another eight swimmers behind her. Her final silver came in the 50m butterfly completing the course in 41.57. again in a personal best time.
County Championships 2025
It only took 22 minutes and 28 seconds for North Norfolk Viking Swimmer Reuben Seaman to swim 30 lengths of the UEA pool at the County Championships for him to take the bronze medal in the 1,500m freestyle. His official time was 22.28.48 and the 13 year old was only 2 minutes outside the gold medal.
This was not the end of his achievements, however. In the 800m he came fifth in 11:45.72 just behind fellow Viking Toby Corfield by a second who recorded 11.44.33 from Reuben’s 11.45.72 respectively. Reuben swam strongly again when he became a finalist in the 100m breaststroke touching the pad sixth in 1:35.67 out of seventeen in his age group.
Toby, also 13, went on make two butterfly finals. In the 200m he agreed a pace plan with his coach which bore fruit. Although he was a long way from the gold, the thirteen year old had enough energy at the end to claim a silver in 3:18.32. subsequently improving his time by 7 seconds.
Imogen Laws bagged five medals for the North Norfolk Vikings at the County Swimming Championships held at the UEA Sports Park over 50m long course distances. In the 200m freestyle, the 11 year old was not even in contention for a medal at the half way stage. Then suddenly on the last 50m, she accelerated and in a very close finish, she managed to offer just that little bit more and won the bronze medal by a split second in 2:36.51.
Over the same distance on the butterfly she went one step further and achieved silver in 2:59.48. and then added three more bronze medals in backstroke events, two of which were the 100m (1:24.22) and the 200m (2:59.48) respectively.
However it was the 50m,backstroke, which Imogen regarded as her best swim, when she achieved a personal best time of 38.99 which put her right into the final. It was a close final with Imogen again improving further taking bronze in 37.77.
Lexie Parker made the most of her time and seized every opportunity after qualifying in seven events over the last year. Having just missed out reaching the final of the 50m backstroke, the 11 year old qualified for the 100m butterfly final in 1:47.22. It was a nervous wait as you would expect as this was her first county final. Lexie looked strong from the gun and shattered her own personal record by five seconds in 1:42.09.
However, according to her coach her best swim was the 200m backstroke which tested her to the full as this was four lengths of the 50m pool. Building up a rhythm, which she held well over the distance, she completed the course in 2:59.48 to finish ninth – a personal best by 23 seconds.
Another finalist was Anna Turner who did very well when the 11 year old took on six events. Her best swim is when she achieved eighth place in the final of the 100m Breaststroke in with 1:40.50. in a personal best time.
Leonna Scott was amongst a number of successful swimmers who represented the North Norfolk Viking Swimming team when they competed in a “Winter Wipe Out” gala at the UEA Sports park. The 12 year old took no fewer than 3 golds and 2 silver medals home with her after being on top form.
Scott seemed to favour backstroke and In the 100m she took gold in 01:19:02 easily defeating a field of 13 and then followed it up with a victory in the 50m, this time over 50m when she brought it home in 35.85. Scott completed her golden hat trick on the 50m freestyle winning in 30.78. There was also more Viking success in her 100m backstroke when Layla Callaby took the bronze in 1:26.72.
Turning to freestyle and butterfly, her third gold came in 50m for the former in 30:78 and in the latter she took her silver in 36:89 3 over the same distance. She rounded off her programme with another silver over 100m freestyle in 1:11:21
Evie Bates also had a memorable time with her three golds and a silver. In the 400m freestyle the 14 year old just missed out on the gold by one second in 5:21.68.
Ironically when she contested the 200m freestyle, she won the gold by one second in 2:34.38 defeating seven in her age group. Evie then demonstrated her adroitness on the 100m butterfly winning in 1:25.99 and then proved how to compete in all the strokes in one race by taking the 100 Individual Medley 1:24:50 to round off what has been an exceptional year for her in the pool.
Imogen Laws swam an impressive 200m butterfly and is set to secure an Eastern Regional Qualifying time, when the qualifying times are officially announced shortly. When ratified she will be the first to achieve the mile stone at the Victory pool in North Walsham. This is because the club championships were “licenced” for the second year running; meaning that all times were deemed official. The ten year old completed the course in 3:28.81 winning her event by quite a considerable margin and went on to win again in her age group over 200m breaststroke. Imogen covered the eight lengths in a block busting junior tussle to finish in first place with 3:54.18.
In contrast, there were close finishes. None so close than the 11 year old 50m freestyle when Lexie Parker and Stefanie Smologewski “dead heated” with both hitting the pad simultaneously in 42.50 meaning both swimmers were deemed first under the laws of the sport. New member Amelie Cutting had the second fastest time with 42.91 and was awarded third place in the respective age group in her first club gala..
The Senior girls 100m freestyle was another close one when Leah Harris and Emily Morton crept away from the rest and only split second separated them at the finish with Leah finishing first in 1:03.22 from Emily’s 1:04.15.
The corresponding boys’ event was equally entertaining as Lewis Goultry Ashley Jones, Sam Morton and George Edridge were all in contention but after the 75 metre mark, Lewis stroked ahead to touch first in 58.34 from Ashley’s 1:01.78. Ashley was later a worthy winner of the 50m butterfly in 31.47 and then triumphed again in the 50m backstroke in 32.94. respectively.
Sam then hit back when he won the 200m breaststroke in 2:46.63 recording the fastest time over all whilst twin brothers Zak and George Edridge settled for the consolation places respectively.
The club had its fair share of debutants who made their mark. Amber Clarke was victorious in the 12 years 100m breaststroke when she touched in 1:51.03. This was followed by two second places in the same stroke., In the 50m she finished with 49.58 and over a longer distance of 200m Amber got her “second second” this time , losing out to Grace Parker as both girls recoded times times of 3:54.72 and 3:42.38 in the same age group respectively.
Debutant Ivy Bird was the winner of the 9 year 50m backstroke in 46.4 defeating seven fellow Vikings. In the corresponding boys event, Harry Metcalf was the fastest in 59.38 as he was in the 50m breaststroke scoring 1:11.25. This was also Harry’s first gala.
Amelia Hudson swam seven events which is very encouraging for a member who has just been promoted from the club’s development squad. Most impressive was her 200m freestyle when the 11 year old finished third with a brave 3:35.53 over 8 length of the Victory pool which earnt her third place.
Another debutant Amelie Cutting also made a good account of her self. In the 10 year old age group she was the second fastest in the 100m freestyle in 1:40.12 and second fastest again in the 50m butterfly with a 59.46.
Zerif Gokmen had every reason to celebrate by winning a silver and three bronze medals In the 100m Individual Medley, 14 year old Zerif went 1:39.02 demonstrating her improved ability on all four strokes for her silver medal.
Then there were three bronze medals to follow all of which were contested over 50m . The first came in the freestyle to finish in 37.16. Her second in the butterfly with 45.28 and the final one was her 50m breaststroke concluding in 54.0. Then there was an additional bonus when she was awarded the Senior Endeavour award by the club at their annual presentation evening shortly after the championships.
Evie Bates had a club championships she will not forget in a hurry Evie made it a hat trick of golds in all her freestyle events. In the 50m,(32.88) the 100m and the 200m freestyle There then followed more gold medals success including the 100m butterfly (1:33.03) and the 100m IM (1:22.39) with Zerfi as runner up.
Meanwhile, Milly’s elder twin brothers Zak and George had their inevitable skirmishes in the breaststroke events. In the 50m, George won in 41.06 from Zak’s 42.12 but in the longer distance of 200m, Zak was victorious in 3:14.19 over George’s 3:21.57.
Joe strikes a hat trick of golds at Halloween gala
Joe Willimott. achieved a hat trick of golds for the North Norfolk Vikings Swimming Club at at a special Halloween junior gala at Dereham.
Joe made no mistakes when he dominated the 100 Individual Medley in his 11 year old age category by an outstanding 23 seconds margin in 1.42.86 and was the second fastest in all age groups combined for this event. In the 50m butterfly he was second fastest again combined with 50.53 and in the 100m freestyle he scored 1.32.47 to win as fellow Viking. Finn Callaby took silver. Joe’s younger sister Emma, also had success when she took a bronze in the 50m backstroke with 49.59.
It was Finn and Lexie Parker, who earlier in the programme, got Vikings off to an excellent start by winning back to back golds. Finn in the 50m backstroke on 48.94. and Lexie in the 100m butterfly with 1.56.05. The two swimmers went onto win another gold apiece. Finn over 50m breatsroke (57.26) and Lexie in 100m backstroke with 1.41.61 respectively.
Her 9 year old , younger twin sisters were also successful in the 50m breststroke. Only hundredths of a second separated Tessa getting silver in 1:01.53 from Holly’s bronze. in 1:01.73; both of whom swam personal bests.
There was a silver lining for Leonardo Jones. He took three silvers, two of which came in the freestyle. In the 50m he came home in 41.20 and then in the 100m he improved his personal best by 6 seconds to finish in 1:39.39. His other silver was another 50m this time in breaststroke scoring 1:04.4.
Darcie Lee also improved her 100m freestyle. Although she did not medal she improved her 100m freestyle time by 5 seconds when she finished fifth in 1:51.39 and just missed out on a medal when she finished 4th over 100 Individual medley in 1.51.39 again reducing her time by another 5 seconds.
Isla Haynes, aged 11, made a good account of herself. Isla took on 8 challenging events and secured a personal best in 7 races. In the 100m freestyle she went 1:32.45 improving by 4 seconds and then over the same distance in the backstroke she touched in 1:56.65 improving by 8 seconds
11 year old Lucy Fincher, who is coached by Mark Claxton at the Reef, made a positive contribution to the afternoon. Lucy recorded a personal best time in all her events namely the 50m freestyle when she took off 3 second in 45.72 and subsequently she came in the top 8 in all her races.
VIKINGS IN ICENI BATTLE
Emily Morton came away with six gold medals at the gala when the team went to Dereham for the Iceni Gala in September
Her time of 1:03.12 was the fastest time out of 118 competitors when she won the 100m freestyle. Morton was on form again, when In the 50m freestyle, she, defeated 121 competitors to take her second gold breaking a minute in 29.23 – a split second ahead of fellow Viking Leah Harris who touched in 29.43. Leah had more success when she too came away with a gold in the 100 butterfly in 1.11.70.
Taking on the longer distances,, Emily was pushed all the way again and in an exciting finger tip finish, she hit the pad in 2:18.5 when the dividing time again went into hundredths of a second over 200m freestyle
Her successes continued with two back to back golds the 100m (1.13) and 200mbackstroke ((02.37) respectively and concluded her programme winning the 50 butterfly (33.65)
In the juniors, Anna Turner also came away with five gold medals. The 10 year old swam very fast throughout and recorded a personal best on each outing. Anna regarded her best swim was the 100m freestyle as she explained.
“I was really nervous to do my first race. This is because I was up against a few 12 and a 13 year olds. Even though I was in the same race with them I still came first both in my heat and age group. In the race, I had a good start and lead until I touched first in 1:17.33, reducing my time by 5.51 seconds.”
There were other gold medal successes for Vikings. Sam Morton, club captain and Emily’s elder brother, in the 200m butterfly (2:41.0).
George and Zak Edridge celebrated their 15th birthday over the gala week-end and had further reason to celebrate when they came home with 14 medals between them.
George won two back to back golds. His first success came over 200m freestyle when he came home in 2:20.52 and in the 100m butterfly he struck gold again with a 1:18.33. George had an outstanding gala claiming five more consolation medals. Significantly his 200m Individual medley when he had to swim all four strokes in which he ably did, finishing in 2:54.51. He was paired with brother Zak in the 50m breastsrtoke and won silver in 38.26 with Zak on 40.10 for bronze
However, fortunes were reversed in the 200m breaststroke when this time Zak was ahead of his brother in 3:10.64 achieving silver with George who scored 3:11.41 for bronze respectively. Zak had did a “double” in the backstroke events too. For the 50 he scored 35.61 claiming silver and over the 100m another bronze in 1:18.93.
Their younger sister 11 year old Milly did not medal but made a significant improvements. recorded 5 personal bests times out of 9. There were two swims of significance which she excelled in. She reduced her time by 14 seconds finishing the 200m freestyle in 2:58.08 and it was freestyle again, this time over 100m when the margin of improvement was 4 seconds with 1:22.74.
Imogen Laws struck gold in the 100m butterfly in 1.30.62 and followed it up with a silver In the 200m Individual medley recording 3.06.53 and a bronze for the 100m freestyle going 1:17.03 respectively. At the conclusion a Viking coach said:
Grace Parker had double silver medals successes in the backstroke. In the 100m she improved her time by 8 seconds in 1:20.58 but in the 200m she improved by 20 seconds finishing with 2:55.69. The determined 12 year old competed in 11 out of 12 events events over the week end of competition which attracted teams from all Norfolk and beyond.
There was other medal success for Vikings In the 50m backstroke another 12 year old, Leonna Scott made the most of the 50m backstroke in 37.61 for Bronze and in the Seniors, Lewis Goultry swam all four strokes over 200m individual medley taking the bronze medal in 2.31.38.
Zerif Gokmen is another intermediate who has been swimming well. In the gala she improved her 50m times over breaststroke (54.80) and butterfly (43.16) respectively and subsequently passed the Physical Section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award which she is currently participating in at bronze level.
Also competing for Vikings were Darcey Lee, Lexie Parker, Layla Callaby, Niamh Corfield and Ashley Jones.
A lead coach is required. Preferably Level II qualified. He or she will lead a team of experienced coaches and set schedules accordingly . Again the position will be subject to a successful reference and an enhanced DBR check. This is a paid position.
Interested? For further details please contact North Norfolk Vikings Swimming Club
Harry and Imogen strike gold at swim gala.
It was a memorable day for North Norfolk Viking Senior Swimmer 19 year old Harry Hudson competing in the “Mid Summer Madness”at the UEA Sports park Gala. He recorded the fastest time in the gala over 50m freestyle in 26.38 and subsequently beat 29 competitors in his own age group, Also competing in the same event were fellow Vikings Lewis Goultry and Ashley Jones who went 27.29 and 27.33 finishing 5th and 6th respectively.
In the intermediate categories, 13 year old Evie Bates enjoyed her outing by achieving two bronze medals. Her first one came in the 200m freestyle in 2:34.64 and the second was over 100m butterfly when she touch in 2:34.64. Toby Corfield was the other Viking medallist when he won silver over 200m backstroke in 3:04.03 Afterwards Viking Coach Adam Crafer said:
Thanks also to Leona Scott, Anna Thurston, Grace Parker, Layla Callaby, Saha Hordinenko, Emily Morton, Niamh Corfield, Bethany Brooks, Millie, George & Zak Edridge
