About Competitions

Competitions or Meets or Galas are where we race.  They are loud, they are exciting and they’re so much fun! Our athletes love to race and it makes all of the hard work in training worthwhile.

There are loads of different competitions at different levels. Not every competition is for every athlete. Some you need to qualify for with a qualifying meet, others aren’t on our competition calendar.

Competitions usually take place at a weekend with a few adding a Friday evening to their program. National Championship events and upwards will start to run midweek meets. Competitions come in different levels and each level has a different set of criteria. There are internal and external meets. Durham City Aquatics hosts internal Club Galas and external home meets.

Our mainstream and performance squads are all competitive and as a result you will be introduced to competitions quite early on. Our satellite squads are non-competitive, but athletes may compete if they want to.

At a competition athletes will sit with the team. They will be looked after by a team that consists of Coaches; who will give guidance before a race and feedback after a race, and Team Managers; who look after our athletes while they are not swimming.

Team Managers, as well as making sure that athletes are eating when they should and staying hydrated, will make sure that athletes get to the Coaches in time to be fully briefed and directed to marshalling where the meet staff will take over and make sure athletes get to their lane on time.

Officials are vital for any gala to run.  If this is something you may be interested in, futher information can be found on the link below.

https://www.britishswimming.org/browse-sport/swimming/officials/officials-qualifications-training/