A Beccles swimmer was among the community heroes recognised at this year’s Stars of Suffolk awards.

Jordan Catchpole, 18, picked up the Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award at the ceremony held at Trinity Park in Ipswich on November 9, just a few weeks after receiving the same accolade at the Stars of Lowestoft and Waveney Awards.

Jordan has overcome diversity for most of his teenage life.

When we was just 13-years-old, he stopped attending mainstream school due to anxiety caused by autism and learning difficulties. He channelled his energy into swimming, which he found his love for at four-years-old with his grandad, and years of late nights and early mornings followed.

Jordan trains eight times a week with the City of Norwich Swimming Club and competes in the S14 classification for swimmers with an intellectual impairment.

He has recently won the Para Swimming World Series Men’s Junior title, broken the S14 200m backstroke world record and European record. He also holds the S14 50 metre and 100 metre backstroke British records.

On receiving the award, Jordan said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. It means the world. There were some great nominees out there.

“I want to thank my family and my swimming coach and everyone at Team GB because without them I wouldn’t be here.”

The Stars of Suffolk awards were launched 10 years ago by Mick Parker and look to celebrate the unsung heroes in the county, who have overcome diversity, battled against the odds and worked tirelessly within their communities.

Other finalists from the Beccles area included the Albert Pye School Panathlon Team and Beccles Friends of Cancer Research UK, both of which were nominated in the Team of the Year category, and Halesworth woman Courtney Parker who was a finalist in the Unsung Hero of the Year category for her charity work in memory of her son Blayze.

Shorlisted in the same sport category as Jordan was powerlifter Amber Hannant from Thurlton and retired swimmer Neil Howell of Halesworth.

And the awards don’t stop there for Jordan. This week he was named the Archant Suffolk Young Sports Personality of the Year at the Suffolk Sports Awards at Kesgrave Hall.

He said: “I feel proud to have been nominated for this award, and even more proud to have won it.

“The other nominees on the shortlist were both great athletes, who did really well this year, so to have won the award means a lot.”