Open Meet Report

We again attended a number of Open Meets in 2019 of varying standards and varying team sizes. Overall we had 44 different swimmers who competed individually in at least one meet, which is 1 up on the 43 of last year. It would be nice to see a further increase for 2020 (and the good news is we already have some ‘newbies’ signed for the Stevenage Meet). 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 9 swimmers competing in individual events at 2019 County Champs, plus 4 others who competed in relays. We had 4 swimmers at Long Course Regional Champs, 4 swimmers at Short Course Regional Champs, 6 swimmers at Open Water County/Regional Champs and 6 swimmers at Swim England National Masters Champs.

As our AGM is later this year and County Champs are earlier, I can also report that we had 14 swimmers in individual events at 2020 County Champs which were held in Jan. We had a number of others who achieved consideration times but were unfortunately not accepted. A further 5 swimmers competed in the relay events.

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 should 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, Coral Jobson, Jack Jackson, Lydia Aldeiri and Marie Colson for their help through 2019 (and some already in 2020). (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, Mark Fagan, Jeannette Binns, Steven Binns, Maggie Clark, Deborah O’Donnell, Graham Hilsden and Sara Banks 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 Dave Stockwell if you are interested.

Keep an eye on the website for details and I look forward to seeing many more of you at the Open Meets this year.