Please find below all the information relating to November's Short Course Event.
We have split the information to make it easier to view and find what is relevant to you.
The Entry Information is relating to the BUCS aspects of the event; entries, deadlines and BUCS Play.
The Meet Conditions are specifically swimming related and include information relevant to the event delivery itself; meet procedures, withdrawal protocol and para conditions.
We then have all the important documents linked at the bottom of the page for you to view the information and download, this is also where you will find the qualification and consideration times for the event as well as the programme of events.
Entry Information
Entry Dates and Cost
ENTRY OPENING DATE
Tuesday 9 September 2025
ENTRY CLOSING DATE
Tuesday 14 October 2025 at 23:59 – Student/Competitor Deadline
(Students / Competitors must apply by this deadline)
Thursday 16 October 2025 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.
ENTRY COSTS
Individual Events: £14.95
Relay Events: £27.20
Entry Process
Individual Events:
- Competitor to apply to the event on BUCS Play (Instructions on how to do this can be found here)
- Institution administrator approves entry (Instructions on how to do this can be found here)
- BUCS approves/denies entry into competition and publishes confirmed entry list
Relay Events:
- 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)
- Please speak to your Institution Administrator as they will need to enter the correct number of teams for you.
- Competitors then need to apply for the respective event. (Instructions on how to do this can be found here)
- Institution Administrators must assign competitors to the correct team during the approval 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 14 October 2025 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.
Para Swimmer Entrants
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.
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.
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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
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.
BUCS Points
BUCS Points will be awarded as per Appendix 1 and Reg 6 along with the following:
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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.
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)
BUCS Swimming Points
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.
Entry Checks
The entry lists will be published on the BUCS website by 5pm Friday 31 October 2025 for checking.
All entries MUST be checked, with errors you wish to be corrected being reported by 5pm Thursday 6 November 2025 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 will be accepted.
Any requests for changes made at the event will not be made.
Governing Body Registrations and Rankings
Rules and Regulations
The Rules and Regulations can be found here.
BUCS Play Information Required
- 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.
Event Guide
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.
Safeguarding
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.
Photography and Videography
Questions
Meet Conditions
Meet Conditions
1) General Conditions
a. BUCS, the BUCS Swimming Event Team, the Meet Director and the Technical Director (Lead Referee) reserve full powers over the event, including but not limited to cancelling, postponing or changing the Championships venue and/or format due to reasons beyond its reasonable control.
b. The Championships shall be held under Swim England Regulations and Technical Rules of Swimming.
c. Entries may only be accepted from competitors who are eligible students as defined by BUCS Rules and Regulations.
d. Guest entrants may be accepted for Time Only.
2) The Events
a. The following events will be offered for Open/Male & Female
Individual Events
50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle
50m, 100m & 200m Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly
100m, 200m & 400m Individual Medley
Relay Events
4 x 50m Freestyle
4 x 50m Medley
b. The following Mixed Event will be offered:
4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay
3) Entries
a. Entries shall be received no later than the ‘closing date’ i.e. 23:59 on Tuesday 14 October 2025.
b. All entrants must have equalled or bettered the qualifying times/consideration times as stated in the 12 months prior to the event (converted long course times will be accepted).
c. 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.
d. The BUCS Swimming EMG Lead has the authority to restrict the number of entries accepted to ensure the smooth running of the Championships.
4) Entry Restrictions
a. Individuals may enter up to a maximum of six individual events.
b. Institutions may enter up to ten eligible swimmers in each individual event and up to four teams in each relay event.
c. 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 individual entries will be prioritised based on entry time and for team events may be based on entry time and/or a fixed no of teams per institution.
d. 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.
e. Para entries do not count towards the limit of 10 entries per institution per event.
5) Meet Procedure
a. All individual events shall have heats and A & B finals with the exception of the 400m, 800m & 1500m, which shall be Heat Declared Winner events.
b. All relay events shall have heats and A, B & C finals.
Heats
c. Heats will be split across two pools with Open/Male in one pool and Female in the other.
d. 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
e. 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.
f. HDW events will have their fastest heat in the final session.
i. For the 800m & 1500m events the second fastest heat will be swum in Heat Session A and the third fastest heat in Heat Session B.
ii. For the 400m events the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fastest heats will be swum in Heat Session A with any remaining heats in Heat Session B.
Finals
g. The fastest ten competitors/teams from the heats, irrespective of age, shall be allocated places in the A Final.
h. The next ten fastest competitors from the heats will be allocated places in the B final.
i. Where there is a C final the next ten fastest teams from the heats will be allocated places in the C finals.
j. Competitors who have qualified for finals will be expected to swim unless they have complied with the withdrawal procedure.
Relay Events
k. Team Declaration Forms must be completed and submitted for each relay team to the BUCS desk at least 60 minutes before the start of the morning session on the day that event will be swum.
l. Team Declaration Forms only need to be submitted for Finals if changes have been made from the team that swam in the heats, otherwise it will be assumed that the same swimmers are swimming in the same order.
m. Swimmers may only swim for one team in each Relay event. Once they swim for that team they are tied to that team for heat and final (where applicable).
i. If a team progresses to the final the swimmers within that team in the heat are only eligible to swim in that team in the final. , e.g. if a swimmer swims for their institution's Team 2 in the heats, they may not swim for their Team 1 in the final.
ii. If a team fails to qualify for a final or is disqualified those swimmers are not permitted to swim in another team. e.g. if a swimmer swims for their institution's Team 2 in the heats and they are disqualified in the heats they may not swim for their Team 1 in the final.
6) Withdrawal from Heats
a. Withdrawals must be made by 11am the day before the relevant event.
b. Withdrawals must be made by email prior to the event (up to 11am on the day prior to competition). Thereafter withdrawals must be made at the BUCS Desk. A mobile number will be supplied for during event withdrawals..
7) Withdrawal from Finals
8) Call Room/Reporting to Race
a. No formal call room will be in operation for heats, but Competitor Stewards will be on poolside to assist and direct.
b. Finalists are required to report to the Competitor Steward in the Finals Assembly Area on poolside in sufficient time and be available to parade for their event.
c. It is the competitor/team’s responsibility to report in good time for their event and to notify the Competitor Steward if there is any reason why they may be delayed reporting (e.g. Back-to-Back races).
d. Reserves are required to report for their Final or withdraw.
9) Medals & Awards
a. Medals shall be awarded to the first, second and third placed eligible competitors/teams in A Finals.
b. In Heat Declared Winner events, medals will be awarded to the overall first, second and third ranked competitors once all heats have been completed.
c. Awards will be made to the Open/Male and Female Top Performers & Open/Male and Female Top Para Swimmer Performers based on points.
10) Technical Meeting
a. It is a requirement for a representative from all institutions to attend. The time and location will be notified in the Event Information.
Para Swimming Specific Conditions
11) Para Swimming
a. The general conditions for the Championships shall apply to the Para-Swimming events except where varied by any of the following conditions.
b. Para Entrants are only eligible as Para Entrants in the events defined below and entries into any other events are considered as standard entries and are subject to all other event conditions.
c. The Events:
Event Open/Male & Female
50m Freestyle S1-S13
100m Freestyle S1-S14
200m Freestyle S1-S5 & S14
400m Freestyle S6-S14
50m Backstroke S1-S5
100m Backstroke S1-S2 & S6-S14
50m Breaststroke SB1-SB3
100m Breaststroke SB4-SB14
50m Butterfly S2-S7
100m Butterfly S8-S14
75m Individual Medley SM1-SM4
100m Individual Medley SM5-SM14
12) Consideration Times
13) Eligibility
a. Para Swimmers must have a CURRENT authorised World Para Swimming Classification, British Swimming Classification, Virtus-FID or British Blind Sport Classification, which is held on the British Swimming Database or be Internationally classified at the time of entry.
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/a
b. S15 swimmers are eligible to enter any event and earn BUCS medals and points as per BUCS medal and policy but must meet the entry consideration and qualification times of non-para swimmers.
c. A secondary strobe light will be available for athletes.
d. All Para events will be competed as Mixed Classification (MC) events.
e. There will be no separate finals for MC events but Para Swimmers may progress to finals if finishing in the top 20 fastest swimmers in the event.
f. The competition shall take place under the relevant WPS Swimming Rules and Regulations.
g. Para entries do not count towards the limit of 10 individual entries per institution per event.
14) Para Awards & Medals
a. Eligible entrants in these events can, subject to competitor numbers, earn BUCS Points, BUCS Medals as part of multi-classification extracted results using British Para-Swimming Points.
b. Eligible competitors shall be awarded medals on a multi-class basis to the competitor placed 1, 2 and 3 in each event by using BPS scores for each event.
c. Medals shall be awarded during the relevant ceremony for the session.
d. Where a Para Swimmer competes in a final their fastest time will be used for para points.
Swimming & Para-Swimming Points (Not BUCS Points)
These are an internal points system that the sport itself uses to rank participating institutions and make its own awards. These are separate to BUCS Points.
15) Swimming Points
a. Points will be awarded for the first 20 places in any event.
b. Points will be awarded from 1st (20 points) to 20th (1 point)
c. Double points will be awarded in Open/Male and Female relays: 1st (40 points) to 20th (2 points)
d. In the mixed relay points will also be double points, but the total awarded to each institution will be split equally between the Open/Male and Female categories. E.g. An institution finishing 1st will score 20 points in Open/Male and 20 points in Female.
e. Points will only be awarded to the highest placed competitor / team from each institution. i.e. if competitors from Aberdeen finish in 1st and 2nd place and a competitor Aberystwyth finishes in 3rd place. Aberdeen will be awarded 20 points, and Aberystwyth will be awarded 18 points. 19 points would not be allocated.
f. In the event of a tie for a position, the points associated to that position will be awarded to both teams with the next place’s points not awarded. E.g. Joint 1st will be awarded 20 points each, 19 points will not be awarded and the next points awarded would be 18 for 3rd.
g. In the event that less than 20 competitors enter an event, points will only be awarded up to the second from last competitor
h. In the event of a DQ or DNC in the A or B final, the points will be awarded to the competitor/team finishing in 21st place and below until all the points are allocated.
16) Para Swimming Points
a. Points are awarded for finishing 1st to 10th in each Para Event.
b. Competitors can only score points in Para Events where their classification is defined as eligible.
c. Only the highest finishing competitor from each institution will score points.
d. 10 points will be awarded for 1st, 9 points for 2nd…down to 1 point for 10th place.
e. A competitor must beat another eligible competitor in a Para Event to score points.
f. Competitors who DNF or are Disqualified will not score points.
Important Documents
Entry Information
Meet Conditions
Entry Times
Programme of Events
