Swimming & Para Swimming: Short Course Championships 2023-24

DATES

17^th - 19^th November 2023

VENUE

Ponds Forge International Sports Centre,

Sheaf Street,

Sheffield City Centre,

S1 2BP

ENTRY OPENING DATE

Wednesday 27th September 2023

ENTRY CLOSING DATE

Student / Competitor Deadline: 11:59pm Tuesday 24^th October 2023

(Students / Competitors must apply by this deadline)

Institution Administrator Deadline: 11:59pm Thursday 26^th October 2023  

(Institutional Administrators are given 48 hours after the student / competitor deadline to approve entries)

This competition will NOT operate a staged entry process. As such, please ensure all entries are submitted through BUCS Play prior to the closing date listed above. 

ENTRY COSTS

Individual Events: £14.95
Relay Events: £27.20

• 50m Freestyle (Open and Female)
• 100m Freestyle (Open and Female)
• 200m Freestyle (Open and Female)
• 400m Freestyle* (Open and Female)
• 800m Freestyle** (Open and Female)
• 1500m Freestyle** (Open and Female)
• 50m Breaststroke (Open and Female)
• 100m Breaststroke (Open and Female)
• 200m Breaststroke (Open and Female)
• 50m Butterfly (Open and Female)
• 100m Butterfly (Open and Female)
• 200m Butterfly (Open and Female)
• 50m Backstroke (Open and Female)
• 100m Backstroke (Open and Female)
• 200m Backstroke (Open and Female)
• 100m Individual Medley (Open and Female)
• 200m Individual Medley (Open and Female)
• 400m Individual Medley* (Open and Female)
• 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (Open and Female)
• 4 x 50m Medley Relay (Open and Female)
• 4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay (Mixed)

*Entry Qualifying Time (EQT) applies
** Entry Qualifying Time applies & only the top 20 entrants will be accepted (800m & 1500m Free)

For the 800m and1500m entry times will be verified by Swim England rankings for validity and may be rejected if validity cannot be approved. 

The BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships 2023 are required to adhere to the Swim England Transgender policy. As such, the categories available shall be ‘Open’ and ‘Female’. For more information, please see the Swim England Transgender Policy.

The Female category is for birth sex females in accordance with Swim England's Transgender and Non-Binary Competition Policy. By entering the 'Female' category, a swimmer confirms that their birth sex is female. 

Please review the Programme of Events when making entries.

On Friday the heats will be swum in one pool. On Saturday and Sunday the heats will be swum in two pools so events are back to back. Please also note in the HDW events the fastest heats will be swum in the finals sessions with the slower heats in the fastest heats session on the same day. Please consider this when making entries.

The top 10 swimmers/teams will advance to A finals following the heats and where there are B finals these will be made up of swimmers/teams ranked 11-20 from the heats. There will be B finals for the 50m and 100m events. There will be B finals in the 200m events where there are in excess of 40 entrants.

The top 3 swimmers of each event will receive medals.

Individuals may enter up to a maximum of four individual evens

It may become necessary to restrict entries if the entries exceed capacity. If required, rejections will be made after the closing date at the discretion of the BUCS Swimming Event Team. Should it be necessary to restrict entries, accepted entries will be prioritised based on entry time.

Only the top 20 entrants based on verified entry times will be accepted in the 800m Freestyle and 1500m Freestyle. Entries are required to meet the event qualifying times or consideration times - these may be subject to verification.

Individual Events:

To apply for this competition:

1. Competitor to complete competition application on BUCS Play 
2. Institution Administrator approves entry
3. BUCS approves/denies entry into competition and publishes confirmed entry list. 

Any data will be held in accordance with the BUCS Privacy Policy

By participating in this event you agree to adhere to BUCS General Event Disclaimer 

To check whether you are eligible to compete in BUCS competitions, please visit BUCS Individual Eligibility REG 4

Relay Events:

• The Institution Administrator is responsible for entering teams into relay competitions.
• A student is not able to join a team until their Institution Administrator has entered a team.
• A minimum of 4 competitors must apply for each relay. The Institution Administrator must then select 4 competitors to form the ‘Squad’. These do not have to be the final squad, relay declarations will be completed at the competition. If you have swimmers who will only participate in relays these individuals must be listed in a relay entry on BUCS Play. Swimmers who have not entered on BUCS Play will not be eligible to race.
• Students applying for the Team should input the TEAM PB as an entry time, NOT their individual split time. 
• For help on how to enter a team competition, please click here

No entries will be accepted after the entry closing deadline under any circumstances. 

If a competitor experiences issues entering via the BUCS Play app before the deadline of 24^th October 2023 this must be reported through BUCS app support. Any issues that have not been brought to BUCS’ attention before this deadline will not be considered for entry.

The following Entry Qualifying Times (EQT) that swimmers must have achieved for the events over 200m:

Entry time submitted for events with a qualification time must have been achieved in a competitive environment in the last 12 months prior to the competition and may be verified against British Swimming rankings. You may also be asked to verify your time on request prior to or at the event. Failure to validate your entry time may mean that you are not able to participate in the event or you may face disciplinary action or a fine if you swim outside of your entry time and slower than the Qualifying Time.

Entries by swimmers with times outside of these times will be rejected.

Please see below a list of consideration times for each event.

Entries will be rejected if a swimmers time is slower than the time listed for that event.

Achieving the consideration time permits the entry to be made but does not guarantee that entry as entries may be restricted based on capacity. If swimmers fail to achieve the consideration time at the event they will be fined if they cannot prove achieving the consideration time within 12 months of the event.

Institution Administrators - Allocate para-swimmers under the ‘non-guaranteed’ category.

Para-swimmers are permitted to enter recognised para events for their classification as listed below (in line with events currently being swum in Great Britain for para-swimmers) and are required to meet the consideration times outlined below.

Eligible entrants in these events can, subject to competitor numbers, earn BUCS Points, BUCS Medals and Swimming Event Points, as part of multi-classification extracted results using British Para-Swimming Points.

If any para swimmer enters an event which their classification is not eligible for, they will be required to meet the consideration or qualifying times for non-para swimmers for that event.

Para Swimmer Open Consideration Times

Para Swimmer Female Consideration Times

Para Swimmers must be Nationally/Internationally classified and have a CURRENT classified status. Eligibility is defined below:

• C (Confirmed) = Eligible 
• FRD (Fixed Review Date) =Eligible for up to 12 months post date.
• R (Review) - Needs to be Classified/ Seen next swim - Ineligible for medal or BUCS Para Points but can enter and participate as a para swimmer.

Swimmers with any other classification status are ineligible and unable to swim as para athlete but can enter not as a para athlete providing they meet the consideration times required.

For more information on para swimmers classification status, please click here.

Specific Requirements:

• If you have any specific requirements for competing e.g. Strobe lights, use of 'tappers' etc. please advise Joseph Gallimore in advance of the event.
•  Any swimmer requiring the use of tapping devices, blackened goggles or starting devices MUST have these signed off at the Technical Briefing for them to be used during the Championships.

In line with World Para Swimming Rules and Regulations (Regulation 5.1.2) any World Record swims will not be recognised at BUCS Short Course Swimming Championships.

S15 swimmers are eligible to enter any event and earn BUCS medals and points as per Appendix 1 but must meet the entry consideration and qualification times of non-para swimmers.

A secondary strobe light will be available for athletes with a hearing impairment.

BUCS Points will be awarded as per Appendix 1 and Reg 6 along with the following:

• Only the top 2 swimmers from each institution or 1 team per institution for relay events will score points e.g. If three swimmers from the same institution finished 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, only 1^st and 2^nd would receive BUCS Points and 3^rd and 4^th place points would be pushed down to the next eligible swimmer from a different institution.

Entry lists are currently being confirmed and will be uploaded to the BUCS website in due course. 

Thank you for your patience and support with the event. 

You will only be able to request substitute swimmers for other swimmers who become unable to swim their event(s) after the closing date if they are named swimmers from your accepted submitted entries.

Substitutions are only accepted up until Midnight Friday 10^th November 2023, after which only medical substitutions are permitted if accompanied by a medical note. A swimmer may no longer participate in any event once medically substituted unless agreed by the Meet Director.

After entries have closed no refunds will be given for withdrawals. This applies regardless of the reason for a withdrawal.

Withdrawals can be made up until 4pm Thursday 16 November 2023 (updated on 4 October 2023).

There will be fines for withdrawals after the date above or failing to swim in heats or finals. Details of these fines will be in the Event Guide

Being registered with a governing body is not a requirement to compete in the BUCS Swimming Championships. However, registered swimmers of Swim England, Scottish Swimming or Swim Wales who wish for their times to be submitted for British Swimming ranking purposes must provide their governing body number when registering on BUCS Play, as well as checking that the name and date of birth matches that on your governing body registration.

For para-swimmers to be eligible for disability points and awards they must be nationally/internationally classified and have a current classification status (see para entrants tab for more information)

The rules and regulations can be found here.

• Swimming membership number (if you have one)
• Entry Time
  • Entry times MUST be submitted for all events. These should be Short Course times or conversions from Long Course times.
  • Please write the PB in number format HH:MM:SS.MS. For example: 00:02:21.59 – represents 0 hours, 2 minutes, 21 seconds and 59 milliseconds). Any entries made putting 00:00:00.00 (or any other zero time format) will be rejected.
  • Entries made with times that are not appropriate/in the correct format for the event will also be rejected. If you do not have an official time please submit a time trial time – This includes relay entries.
• Are you a para swimmer? (drop down yes or no) If yes, you will be asked:
  • S classification
  • SB classification
  • SM classification
  • Exemption codes
  • URL proof – e.g. link to your profile on NGB or WPS website to demonstrate your classification
  • Classification Status (drop down Confirmed, Review, Fixed Review Date)

This will be released closer to the competition date.

Due to the warm up restrictions the schedule & event timings will be published in the event guide. This will allow the exact timings to be set around the actual entries and for as many swimmers to participate as possible.

If you are having any problems with the BUCS Play app please contact BUCS app support before the deadline of 24^th October 2023. Any issues that have not been brought to BUCS’ attention before this deadline will not be considered for entry.