Swimming & Para Swimming: Short Course Championships 2024-25

Tuesday 15 October 2024 at 23:59 – Student/Competitor Deadline 
(Students / Competitors must apply by this deadline) 

Thursday 17 October 2024 at 23:59 – Institution Administrator Approval Deadline 
(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. 

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

Please find the programme of events here. 

*Entry Qualifying Time (EQT) applies 
** Entry Qualifying Time applies & only the top 30 entrants will be accepted (800m & 1500m Free) 
For the 800m and 1500m 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 2024 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.  

The BUCS category Open will be defined as Open/Male as is commonplace in all swimming events in the UK. 

Heats 
Heats will be swum in two pools, split Open/Male in one pool and Female in the other pool, so events are back-to-back.  

Heat Sessions will be split into two sessions – A & B  
The exact split will be determined by the overall number of entries and will be advised in the Event Information 

For the 50/100/200 events and the Relays, the fastest heats will be in Session A followed by the remaining heats in Sesson B..  
 
HDW events will have their fastest heat in the final session. 
For the 800m & 1500m events the other heats will be swum in Heat Session B. 
For the 400m events the other heats will be swum in Heat Session A. 

Finals 
There will be A & B Finals for all 50, 100, and 200m events. 
There will be a C Final for all Relays. 
The top 10 swimmers/teams will advance to A finals and the next 10 to the B final and the next 10 to the C final where a C final is run.  

The top three swimmers/teams in each event including Para Events will receive medals according to the BUCS medal policy.   

Awards will be made to the Open and Female Top Performers & Open and Female Top Para Swimmer Performers.  

Institutions will score ‘Swimming Points’ and will be ranked and awards will be made to the highest ranked Open Team, Female Team & Overall Team.  

Para Teams will be ranked, and an overall list will be published.

Individuals may enter up to a maximum of six individual events. 

Institutions may enter up to ten eligible swimmers in each individual event and up to four relays. 

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.  

Up to a maximum of 30 entrants based on verified entry times will be accepted in the 800m Freestyle and 1500m Freestyle. Entrants are required to meet the event qualifying times or consideration times.

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 Swim England 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 swimmer’s 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 event 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.  

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, earn BUCS Points, BUCS Medals and Swimming Event Points, as part of multi-classification extracted results using British Para-Swimming Points, only when the minimum number of participants have competed, as per BUCS Reg 6.1.2.1.7 and 6.2.2.4.

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/Male 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 visit: 
https://www.britishswimming.org/performance/para-swimming/classification/classification-status/  

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. 

Individual Events:

To apply for the competition all eligible competitors must follow these steps: 

1. Competitor to apply to the event on BUCS Play (Instructions on how to do this can be found here) 

2. Institution administrator approves entry (Instructions on how to do this can be found here) 

3. BUCS approves/denies entry into competition and publishes confirmed entry list 

Any data will be handled in accordance with 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 REG 4 Individual Eligibility.  

Relay Events: 

To apply for this competition: 

1. Entries will need to be submitted via the team entries section of our online entry system, BUCS Play (Instructions on how to do this can be found here) 

2. Please speak to your Institution Administrator as they will need to submit your entry. 

3. Competitors then need to apply for their respective team. (Instructions on how to do this can be found here) 

4. Institution Administrators must approve a competitor’s application before their entry is confirmed. Institution Administrators are able to give team captains approval access to help with this process (Instructions on how to do this can be found here) 

Any data will be handled in accordance with 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 REG 4 Individual Eligibility. 

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 15 October 2024 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. 

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 1st, 2nd and 3rd, only 1st and 2nd would receive BUCS Points and 3rd and 4th place points would be pushed down to the next eligible swimmer from a different institution.  

The entry lists will be published on the BUCS website by 5pm Friday 1 November 2024 for checking. 

All entries MUST be checked, with errors you wish to be corrected being reported by 5pm Thursday 7 November 2024 your Athletic Union to the event lead. 

Any changes to entry information are subject to a £10 admin fee. 

No late entries under any circumstances can be accepted. 

Any requests for changes made at the event will not be made. 

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

Withdrawals can be made as follows: 

Pre Event by email for all events up until 12:00 Thursday 14 November 2024 

Friday’s Events – Deadline 12:00 Thursday 14th November 2024 (by email) 
Saturday’s Events – Deadline 12:00 Friday 15th November 2024 (at Helpdesk) 
Sunday’s Events – Deadline 12:00 Saturday 16th November 2024 (at Helpdesk) 

There will be fines for withdrawals made after the date above or for 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) 

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) 

If you are having any problems with the BUCS Play app please contact BUCS App Support before the deadline. Any issues that have not been brought to BUCS’ attention before this deadline will not be considered for entry.

This will be released two weeks prior 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. 

BUCS’ mission is to provide exceptional student sporting experiences that inspire, develop and unite. 

Critical to our success is our commitment to always providing safe, friendly and enjoyable environments for all participants. Whether competing, coaching, officiating, volunteering, working or spectating at these events, the welfare of all is critical to our mission. 

To find out more or report a concern, please click here. 

BUCS are proud to be supporting the Milk Every Moment campaign, highlighting the nutritional value of milk and how it can support students in their sporting performance.  

Milk is an affordable source of high-quality protein, which contributes to the growth and maintenance of muscle mass. So why not make one of our milk-based recipes to enjoy before or after your upcoming event.  

Share your milk drinks or meals on Instagram by tagging @BUCSSport.  

Throughout the BUCS season we'll be sharing some of your best moments on our Instagram channel! Share and tag #MilkEveryMomentoftheweek to be a part of it. 

Entry Information

Draft Programme of Events