Open Meets
In addition to galas against other clubs, Beacon will attend many other swimming meets throughout the year. These meets are licensed which means that the times for each swim will be recorded against the swimmer’s name on the Swim England's (SE) database, which can be accessed on the SE website, and can be used for entry into licensed meets organised by other Club’s and County, Regional and National Championships. Swimmers are able to choose the events they swim in opens.
Licensed meets are graded depending on the standard of competition:
- Level 1 - This is the highest level meet. Meets at this level include long course National, Regional and County Championships, Long course (50m) pool only. There will be a minimum qualifying time to enter.
- Level 2 - Meets at this level include short course National, Regional and County Championships. Short course (25m) only. There will be a minimum qualifying time to enter.
- Level 3 – These meets are to enable athletes to achieve times suitable for entry into Regional and County Championships and other Meets at Level 1 or Level 2.
- Level 4 – These are closed club meets (this includes the Club’s Championships held every year.)
Times recorded at Level 4 meets can be used as qualifying times for the County Championships but not for Regional or National Championships.
Licensed meets are held in either 25m pools (known as “short course”) or 50m pools (known as “long course”). Level 1 and Level 2 meets are normally long course while Level 3 and Level 4 meets are generally short course. In Sussex there is only one long course pool at Crawley. Licensed meets may also have upper or lower cut off times (i.e. a swimmer must not be slower than or faster than a set time).
You will be informed of relevant competitions. As each squads competition plan forms part of the overall training plan meets will normally be targeted by squad. As such the competitions you will be invited to will depend on the squad you train in. Some swimmers, based on their current performance, may be invited to enter an open meet designated for other squads and swimmers; this is entirely at the coaches’ discretion.
All open meets have age restrictions for the swimmers entering, and in general swimmers need to be at least 9 years old, often ten before they are able to enter this type of competition.
Most open meet organisers receive more entries than they are able to accept. There are 2 main methods used to restrict the number of swimmers: ? First come, first served ? Scratched by time
First come, first served restrictions are self-explanatory. Because of the way the entries for these events are accepted it should be noted that we do have cut off dates for entries. Please send your completed entry forms as soon as possible, to maximise our chances of entries being accepted by the hosting club. Payment can be made via direct debit.
Scratched by time meets usually involve the rejection of the slowest entry times for each event, as such individual swimmers may have some of their entries accepted and others rejected. In all cases, where entries to open meets are rejected the entry fee is refunded to the swimmer involved.
Some Opens have a points system and clubs may be placed in the points order, but this is not a factor in our attendance.