Overview of W&DSC Club Competitions
Click here for W&DSC Competition pathway
Club Gala's
League Galas We compete in three main Swimming Leagues each year that will enable all club swimmers to compete.
From January to April a team is entered into the three rounds of the Chilterns League which provides an opportunity for swimmers to compete in a B/C level, time-banded competition. In the summer we compete in three rounds of the Milton Keynes Junior League, providing an excellent opportunity for our strongest younger swimmers to take part in a very competitive league. In the autumn, the Club enters its strongest senior swimmers (10+) into the National Arena League, which again is swum over three rounds in Oct, Nov and Dec.
These leagues give the club a County and National ranking after the 3 rounds (galas) are swum. Because of this the fastest team is selected and this may mean swimmers are selected to support relays and may not have an individual swim. All swimmers should be proud to compete for Witney in a league gala, no matter what races they are chosen to swim, as a team ranking is achieved.
Trophy Galas Throughout the year trophy galas are carefully slotted into the programme to ensure all swimmers have the opportunity to compete on a regular basis. Such galas may be ‘A’ standard, time banded, relay or fun gala’s. Each gala is carefully chosen to fit in with the League galas and ASA major championships such as County, Regional and Nationals. For trophy gala’s each swimmer selected will normally be chosen to swim a collection of relays and at least 1 individual swim (although this may not be their favourite or best event). If a gala is time banded or graded B or C, then ‘A’ swimmers may still be selected but will be chosen to swim events they do not normally compete in ‘A’ standard galas.
Internal Club Championships & Diddy Championships
We provide all swimmers in the Club the opportunity of competing in our Club Championships (age 9/over to Masters) or Diddy Championships (Academy to age 12). Club Championship heats are held in the autumn and also provide the opportunity of gaining qualifying times (QT) for the County Championships the following New Year. The 50m swims are held on a Saturday evening ‘50s Night’; long distance events are in heat-declared winner format with finals for all 100M disciplines and the 200IM being held in late November. Details are made available to all swimmers on the website and all swimmers can compete in as many events as they wish. Awards are made to those who finish in the top six places in each event. Awards are made on poolside on 50s Night, Finals Nights and also on a dedicated Awards evening for HDW events.
The Diddy Championship heats are held in Feb and the finals for all events end of April. Swimmers from Academy to age 12 are welcome and encouraged to enter any or all of the events in their age groups; full details are posted on the website and an email alert sent out. Awards are made to swimmers in the top 6 places.
Time Trials
These 100m/200m events (all strokes and IM) plus distance events are held in the summer months of June and July. These events are important for measuring progression towards the end of the season and allowing all swimmers (including masters) to gain PB’s in events they may not have swum for a while. Academy sqaud have their own time trials throughout the year.
County Championships
The Club competes in the Oxon & North Bucks CountyChampionships each year and the dates are included in the fixture’s list as soon as they have been confirmed. The ONB ‘Counties’ have exceptionally demanding QTs and swimmers need to be attending all training sessions and working hard within those sessions to gain times. Swimmer qualifying times for counties must have been gained at Licensed events.
The Counties take place in a 25m pool and are divided into different sessions: Long Distance (400, 800, 1500m) the Age Group relay events, which take place over 3 days in January, and the main sessions, which take place over two weekends in February (50m, 100m, 200m and senior relays).
Full details of the schedule and QT are posted on the website as soon as it is made available and an information pack is provided to all swimmers competing in the Counties, which provides parents and swimmers with a guide to preparing for the long days, events being swum, venues, nutrition and so on
Regional Championships
We are affiliated to the Swim South East Region (SER). The main regional championships take place in April-May (Youth & Age Group each year in a 50m pool. There is also a Winter Regional Championships each year (not for age-group swimmers).
National Championships
The summer nationals are in July and August, and are split between British championships and then home nations (English/Scottish/Welsh). There are no qualifying times, instead swimmers need to achieve a national LC ranking. The opportunity to achieve national ranking is during the qualifying window March to May, where after swimmers in the top ranking for British/English/Scottish/Welsh Nationals are then invited to compete. Winter nationals takes place in December, where swimmers need to gain open qualifying times.
Target Open Meets
Target Open Meets are useful to gain times in other events or distances that swimmers may not always swim in gala’s and also to gain licensed qualifying times.
Click here is a useful guide ' What is an open meet'
