The 2008 ASA East Region Youth Swimming Championships got underway on 3rd May at the Sportspark at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. The three day event showcases the Region’s swimmers in age categories of 15 & under and 16 & over for women and 16 & under and 17 & over for men, and also swimmers with disabilities, who compete on a multi-disability format.
The first medals to be awarded in the able bodied events were for 1500m Freestyle. In the men’s 16 & under, Jordan Bate of UEA City of Norwich SC took home the title, with club mate Samuel Heard winning the older age group. In the women’s race, Sophie Chamberlain (St Felix school) picked up the first of her two gold medals on the opening day with a win in the 15 & under age group, with Harriet Brettle (Mid Beds Swim Squad) winning the 16 & over age group. The 4 x 100m Freestyle team races at the beginning of the finals session were close battles, won by the Hatfield ‘A’ team in the men’s and UEA City of Norwich SC in the women’s events.
Lewis Coleman (teamipswich SC) won the 16 & under 100m Backstroke and 200m Breaststroke with John Sargent (Hatfield SC) winning the 17 & over 100m Backstroke and Bobby Cave (Hatfield SC) winning the 17 & over 200m Breaststroke. David Godridge (Watford SC) won the men’s 16 & under 50m Freestyle with James Lawton (UEA City of Norwich SC) winning the 17 & over age group. In the other sprint event of the evening, the 50m Butterfly, James Sutherland (Hatfield SC) won the 16 & under age group and Geoffrey Short (Bishop’s Stortford SC) the 17’s & over.
Sophie Sweet (City of Peterborough SC) won the women’s 15 & under 100m Backstroke and Rebecca Reader (teamipswich SC) won the 16 & over’s. Sophie Chamberlain won the 15& under 50m Freestyle and Zoe Cray (teamipswich SC) won the 16 & over age group. The 15 & under 200m Breaststroke was won by Alex Harrison (St Felix school) and Petra Chomicz (King’s Lynn SC) won the 16 & over’s. The 50m Butterfly saw wins for Bethany Coggins (UEA City of Norwich SC) and Rebecca Warner (Modernians SC).
In the multi disability events, where swimmers are awarded points relating to their time and their swimming category, there were three different winners of the men’s events; Sam Bradley (Mid Beds Swim Squad) won the 100m Backstroke, Ryan Crouch (teamipswich SC) the 50m Freestyle and James Hollis (Epping Forest SC) the 50m Butterfly. In the women’s events, Sarah Bowling (King’s Lynn SC) won both the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly, with Emma Hollis (Epping Forest SC) winning the 100m Backstroke.
