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. 

a. The following events will be offered for Open & Female categories

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

a. Entries shall be received no later than the ‘closing date’ i.e. 23:59 on Tuesday 20 October 2026. 

b. All entrants must have equalled or bettered the qualifying times/consideration times as stated in the 12 months prior to the first day of 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. 

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 number 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. 

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 category 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 Guide 

e. For the 50m/100m/200m events and the Relays, the fastest heats will be in Session A followed by the remaining heats in Sesson B. 

f. HDW events (400/800/1500m) will have their fastest heat in the finals session and remaining heats will be in the heats sessions (the exact split shall be determined based on entries and event timings).

Finals 

g. The fastest ten competitors/teams from the heats shall be allocated places in the A final. 

h. The next ten fastest competitors/teams 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 final. 

j. Competitors who have qualified for finals will be expected to swim unless they have complied with the withdrawal procedure. 

Relay Events 

k. Heat Team Declaration Forms must be completed and submitted for each relay team at least 60 minutes before the start of the morning session on the day that event will be swum. 

l. Final Team Declaration Forms only need to be submitted if a change will be made from the team that swam in the heats, otherwise it will be assumed that the same swimmers are swimming in the same order in the final as in the heats. 

m. Any Final Team Declaration Forms must be submitted within 30 minutes of the end of Heat Session B.

n. 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. 

a. Withdrawals must be made by 11:00 the day before the relevant event. 

b. All withdrawals must be made online, via the link supplied in the event guide. The deadline for withdrawals to be made is 11:00 the day before the event, otherwise fines will be incurred.

a. Finalists, not wishing to swim, must withdraw online no later than 30 minutes after the conclusion of the heat session they participated in.

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.

a. Medals shall be awarded to the first, second and third placed eligible competitors/teams in A finals based on time.  

b. In Heat Declared Winner events, medals will be awarded to the overall first, second and third ranked competitors based on time once all heats have been completed. 

c. Awards will be made to the Open and Female Top Performers based on WA Points and the Top Open and Female Para Swimmer Performers based on British Para Swimming Points.

a. It is a requirement for a representative from all institutions to attend. The time and location will be notified in the Event Guide.

a. The general conditions for the Championships shall apply to the Para Swimming events/entrants 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 non-disabled 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 

a. Eligible swimmers must achieve the qualifying standards outlined in the Entry Times document.

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 General Regulation 6 but must meet the entry consideration and qualification times of non disabled swimmers. 

a. A secondary strobe light will be available for athletes.

b. All Para events will be competed as Multi-Classification (MC) events. 

c. Para Swimmers may progress to finals if finishing in the top 20 fastest swimmers in the event. 

d. Mixed Para MC Finals in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle will be trialled as exhibition events.

1. 1. 1. The top 5 Open and top 5 Female category swimmers as determined by British Para Swimming Points (BPSP) from the heats will progress to the final, plus two reserves, one Open & one Female.
      2. If necessary, due to a dead heat of equal points which results in the number of finalists exceeding ten a swim-off may be used to determine swimmers for a final – unless in the same class whereby the faster time will progress.
      3. Final-lane allocation will be seeded by qualification time and spearheaded.
      4. BUCS Medals, BUCS Points & BUCS Swimming Points will be decided based on the extracted results from the heats due to these being exhibition events.
      5. Mixed Para MC Finals are not licenced and the times achieved in these finals will not be official.

     e. The competition shall take place under the relevant World Para Swimming Rules and Regulations.

i) As per World Para Swimming Rules & Regulations para swimmers in 400m events will not have a bell/whistle.  

     f. Para entries do not count towards the limit of ten individual entries per institution per event.

a. Eligible entrants in these events can earn BUCS Points and 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 BPSP scores for each event. 

c. Medals shall be awarded during the relevant ceremony for the session unless otherwise advertised.

a. Points will be awarded for the first 20 places in every event based on points.

i) the definition of ‘event’ is considered to be combined where there is a recognised para event.

ii) where a para event is adapted in distance these results will be considered part of the event from which it is adapted (i.e. 75m IM within 100m IM results).

b. Swimmer’s results post final are ranked based on the associated points to create one list (WA Points & British Para Swimming Points).

c. Points will be awarded from 1^st (20 points) to 20^th (1 point) 

d. Double points will be awarded in Open 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 and Female categories. E.g. An institution finishing 1^st will score 20 points in Open 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 1^st and 2^nd place and a competitor Aberystwyth finishes in 3^rd 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 1^st will be awarded 20 points each, 19 points will not be awarded and the next points awarded would be 18 for 3^rd. 

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 21^st place and below until all the points are allocated.  

i. Para competitors’ results will be ranked in each event using British Para Swimming Points where their classification is defined as eligible. In all other events their results will be ranked based on WA Points.

j. Where a para swimmer participates in an A or B final and where the event is a recognised para event for which their classification defines them as eligible their points will be manually converted to British Para Swimming Points for the ranking of results.  Where the event is not a recognised para event the points will be unchanged.

k. S15 swimmers will be ranked based on WA Points.

If calculated these will be for BUCS Swimming data only - not for awards.

a. S1-14 entrants will be ranked on British Para Points and S15 swimmers will be ranked based on WA Points.

b. Points are awarded for finishing 1st to 10^th in each Para Event based on points as defined above. 

c. Competitors can only score points in Para Events where their classification is defined as eligible. 

d. Only the highest finishing competitor from each institution will score points. 

e. Where a Para Swimmer competes in a final their fastest time will be used for para points. 

f. 10 points will be awarded for 1^st, 9 points for 2^nd…down to 1 point for 10^th place. 

g. A competitor must beat another eligible competitor in a Para Event to score points.