Open Meet Report

We again attended a number of Open Meets in 2017 of varying standards and varying team sizes. Overall we had 39 different swimmers who competed individually in at least one meet, which is a slight increase on the 34 of last year. It would be nice to see a further increase for 2018 as we are still below the numbers we had in 2015 and 2016. However, many of our swimmers came away with medals from these meets, as well as a host of PB’s, speed awards and club records over the course of the year.

We had 13 swimmers competing in individual events at County Champs, plus 9 others who competed in relays, 1 swimmer at Long Course Regional Champs and 1 swimmer at Swim England National Masters Champs.

As we go to press, we are preparing the entries for 2018 County Champs to be held Jan/Feb. Promisingly we have 4 swimmers entering with automatic qualifying times in 1 event each – this means they are assured of acceptance. A further 13 swimmers have achieved consideration times and are entering, so we wait to see how many get accepted for how many events. In addition we will be entering 10 relay events which should give swims to a further 6 – 8 swimmers.

We try to attend a variety of meets with different distances and at different levels so there is a chance for everyone to find something to suit them, particularly since you get to choose the events instead of the Team Manager deciding.

On the website you will see pages indicating which swimmers have achieved County Qualifying or Consideration Times. However, this only compares the qualifying standards to the swimmers’ PB. In order to actually enter the County Championships, the times must have been achieved in a licensed meet within the qualifying period.  So if you are interested in entering County Champs in future, please look out for details of the Open Meets we attend so you can aim to achieve the necessary times.

I am always pleased to see how our swimmers support each other at these meets – we may go with a small team sometimes but without exception our swimmers get plenty of encouragement from the others. Obviously, the more people we have there, the more noise we can make in support of the team so it would be great to get even more new attendees this year.

As well as the great team spirit, I must also say that behaviour is excellent, which makes life far easier for whoever is team managing.  I have had great support from a number of people on poolside and I must therefore thank Attracta Leonard, Caroline Presland, Jill Elsen, Adele Rose, Jane Qureshi, Coral Jobson and Emma Spowart for their help through 2017. (Apologies if I missed anyone – your help is appreciated nonetheless).

In addition these meets often stipulate that we must supply officials as a condition of entry. Without volunteers our swimmers would not get to swim, so thanks to Clare Kirwan, John Elsen, Mark Fagan, Jeannette Binns and Steven Binns who have all helped out (and again apologies if I missed anyone). For those parents attending Open Meets, please think about getting qualified to officiate. It makes things more interesting than just watching the couple of races your child is in and also saves money on spectator admission.  Contact Mark Fagan if you are interested.