Jo Stalley

Future Champions Meet – 24^th-25^th July 2021 – Basildon Sporting Village

Entries for the Future Champions Meet (for 10/11 at Basildon Sporting Village on the 24^th-25^th July close on Friday 9^th July 2021 at midday. To enter this event, please follow this link:

https://www.swimmingresults.org/events/eastregionbm21/

Festival of Swimming – Additional Racing Opportunities

Swim England East Region has conducted its review of entries following the closure of the Stage 1 Entry Process.

With close to 4,000 entries, events at the London Aquatics Centre are now full. The Region has identified, however, an opportunity for additional athletes to swim at Norwich, and is therefore introducing four development 100m events in Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. Please see the updated schedule on the Swimming Competitions page.

The events are open to swimmers aged 12 and over at 31 December 2021 who meet the consideration time (unchanged) and have not entered the same event in Stage 1 of the entry process. Swimmers can use times from 01.01.2019 to the entry closing date. The time must be on rankings at the point of entry and may be from Levels 1,2,3,4 or X. If too many athletes with the consideration time enter the events, the slowest swimmers will be rejected first.

Closing Date for entries is 10^th July 2021 at noon. To enter – please follow this link:

https://www.swimmingresults.org/events/eastregionfs21x/

Para swimmers who wish to enter these 100m events and meet the para consideration times, again unchanged, should email swimentries@eastswimming.loxfyq1r35-lxd6r712q49g.p.temp-site.link for details of how to do so.

Athletes may not enter the development events if they are already entered for the same event at the London Aquatics Centre. Swimmers may however enter the development events if they are swimming other events at the London Aquatics Centre. Please fully read the conditions for the development events before entering to ensure you understand the implications of trying to enter the same 100m event at both locations.

Please do not ask to transfer a 100m swim from the LAC to Norwich as it will be refused.

A reminder that the deadline for Stage 1 entries for the Swim England East Region Festival of Swimming is Friday 2nd July at midday.

With close to 2,500 individual swim entries already received, those with Stage 1 consideration times who are minded to enter are strongly advised to do so before this deadline. There is no guarantee of entry beyond this date.

A review of entries will be carried out over the 3rd/4th July. Any decision about a Stage 2 entry process will be communicated in the following week.

The Region has now conducted its review of the Future Champions Meet.

In light of the Government decision to delay the relaxation of social distancing measures to 19^th July, the decision has been taken to move the meet by one week to 24^th/25^th July. The venue will remain Basildon Sporting Village. We are most grateful for the support of Everyone Active and Swim England Essex in assisting in making these revised arrangements so quickly.

In view of the change of date, the closing date for entries to the event has been extended to midday on Friday 9^th July.

Entries will soon open, via an online system which will be published on the Swim England East Region website shortly. Entries will be by individuals and/or their parents/carers, rather than by a club official.

Much work has gone in to rearranging this event and the Region is entirely committed to it taking place. Given the recent instability presented by COVID-19, particularly the Delta variant, it is somewhat superfluous to state that the Region, its clubs and parents/carers all have a role in managing swimmer expectations, as any further delay could lead to a more protracted delay to the staging of this meet.

We dearly hope, however, to welcome you all to the meet at Basildon in July.

Updated documentation, including the revised documentation, can be found here.

In light of the Government’s announcement of a delay to the relaxation of social distancing laws last night, we are currently reviewing arrangements for the Future Champions Meet which is scheduled for 17/18th July.

We thank you for your patience. We will communicate further information as soon as we are able to do so.

Swim England East Region is today releasing the consideration times and race schedule for the British Swimming Festival of Swimming – Swim England East Region competition.

Consideration Times- Festival of Swimming- East Region

PARA Consideration Standards- Festival of Swimming- East Region

Schedule- Festival of Swimming- East Region

The Region would like to highlight that in line with the ever-evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be necessary to limit the number of athletes at the event, perhaps even at short notice. To this extent, the times being published today are consideration times rather than qualifying times, and they do not guarantee entry to the event. We thank you in advance for your understanding.

An online entry system will operate, with a link to the system being posted on this website soon. The entry system will be predicated on individuals making their own entries – club gala secretaries will not be required to do block entries for their club. A full entry pack will also be published when entries open. There will be a separate entry system for Para Swimming athletes – full details of both entry systems will be published at the same time.

Stage One of the entry process will enable those with consideration times achieved at licensed meet levels 1,2,3 and 4 between 01/01/2019 and 20/03/20 to enter. Stage One entries will close at midday on Friday 2nd July, at which time a review of entries will be conducted. If space is available in the meet, Stage Two of the entry process will commence, with consideration times achieved at licensed meet levels 1,2,3,4 and X between 01/01/2019 and the revised entry closing date being permitted for entry.

Online forms will shortly be published for those technical officials and event volunteers who are willing to assist at the meet. The Region will require a great deal of support to ensure that the events run safely and well, and we look forward to receiving applications from our members in due course.

Queries can be directed to [email protected]

As previously advised, Swim England East Region is today releasing the consideration times for the Swim England East Region Future Champions Meet. This information is being released prior to the Entry Pack to enable those clubs who need to carry out Level X Time Trials to plan them so that they appear on rankings before the entry closing date of 4th July.

Needless to say, if the Government alters its plans for the relaxation of COVID-19 safety measures, then it may be necessary to limit entries to the meet. As such, these times are to be regarded as consideration times rather than qualifying times, they do not guarantee entry.

The consideration times for the British Swimming Festival of Swimming will also be published this week.

Consideration Times

Race Schedule

Swim England has published details of the British Swimming Festival of Swimming. East Region swimmers and their parents may have noticed that Region has later competition dates than other regions. Unfortunately, it was not possible to book our optimum dates for very legitimate reasons, due to our regional long course centres being used for other purposes – one is being used as Covid vaccination centre, for example.

The Region, has however, fully embraced the concept of the Festival of Swimming and has some exciting news to announce.

There will in fact be three galas to look forward to for East Region swimmers during the British Swimming Festival of Swimming period, which formally runs from Friday 16^th July – Sunday 8^th August. Whilst it remains unclear whether spectators will be allowed, all events will be fully live streamed.

The first of these galas will be the Swim England East Region Future Champions Meet. This gala will be held in the afternoon and early evening of 17^th/18^th July in short course format at Basildon Sporting Village. The event will be for swimmers aged 10 and 11 (ages at 31^st December 2021) and will comprise 50 and 100m races in all strokes, in Heat Declared Winner (HDW) format. It will be possible to qualify for this meet using old ranking times and Level X times – the qualifying times will be released on Monday 7^th June, to enable clubs to run small Level X time trial events for those swimmers without a time on rankings in advance of the entry deadline of 30^th June.

The event is intended to be a fun and COVID-safe opportunity for the stars of tomorrow to come together and race -perhaps for the first time- after a significant period of disruption. In order to ensure the safety of all competitors, athletes will be housed and marshalled outside, in a 700-seater covered grandstand and surrounding athletics track. Entrance to poolside area will be highly controlled.

The East Region section of the British Swimming Festival of Swimming will take place at UEA Norwich on 31^st July and 1^st August and at the London Aquatic Centre on 7^th and 8^th August. These will be long course events, for swimmers aged 12 and above (ages as at 31^st December 2021). Swimmers will compete in 50m, 100m, 200m events in all strokes, plus 200m and 400m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle. All events will be swum in Heat Declared Winner (HDW) format. This meet will be inclusive of Para swimming events.

The qualifying times will be released very shortly, but the entry process will be different to the Future Champions Meet. When they are published, the qualifying times will look slower than usual. This is because they will be based on times registered by the athletes between 01.01.2019 and 20.03.20. This to ensure fairness to swimmers from all clubs, many of whom are still not able to run Level X time trials for their whole club in a variety of distances. Qualifying times will be based on short-course performances, but long course conversions will be permitted.

For the Festival of Swimming, there will be a two-stage entry process. In Stage One, athletes will be able to enter races using the times they recorded between 01.01.2019 and 20.03.2020 at levels 1,2,3 and 4. There will be a published entry closing date for Stage One, after which there will be a review of entries. If there is available space, entries will reopen, and at this point, athletes will be able to use times achieved since 20.03.2020, at levels 1,2,3,4 and X. The principle of having a two-stage entry process is to ensure that as many swimmers as possible get to benefit from the meet.

In view of its smaller capacity, both the 400m events and some of the 200m events will take place at Norwich, where we have also booked a 12-court sports hall to safely house the athletes and team personnel. The 50m, 100m and remaining 200m events will take place at the London Aquatics Centre, where a large number of athletes can be safely accommodated in the 2,200 seats on both banks of the pool hall, even if social distancing is required.

The final schedule will be released very soon and we look forward to communicating further information to you regularly from this point onwards.

Hopefully, barring any major changes to COVID-19 requirements, we will be able to reflect on a safe racing festival where very many of our swimmers got to restart their racing careers. In order to facilitate the event, the Region will also be seeking technical officials and event volunteers to staff the meet once entries open.