Open Meets - Introduction

Members of our swimming squads aged 9 and over have the opportunity to enter a number of competitions, known as 'Open Meets', with the club on a regular basis. Individual times achieved at licensed open meets are stored on the Swim England database to allow swimmers to enter further competitions. (https://www.swimmingresults.org/). See our page Useful terms for any terminology that could come in useful.

Open Meets are swimming events licensed by Swim England. This means they have to meet certain standards to ensure fair competition. The English swimming licensed meets calendar contains a range of ‘open’ meets, designed to give all competitive swimmers in England the chance to achieve their true potential. All licensed meets are subject to Swim England Regulations and the Swim England Technical Rules of Racing. 

They are graded into four levels:

Level 4  

Level  4 meets are often a swimmers’ first experience of competitive swimming. Swimmers aged 8 and over are allowed to compete. 

Kingsbury Aquarius Swimming Club Championships and Time Trials are all licensed as level 4 competitions. These are where many of our swimmers have their first taste of competing in a gala. 

The race times achieved at these competitions enable swimmers to enter other level 3 meets and County Championship Competitions but not Level 1 meets. 

Level 3  

Level 3 meets are held to enable swimmers to achieve times for entry into County and Regional Championships and other Level 1 & 2 meets. They can be swam in 50 metre (Long Course) or 25 metre (Short Course) swimming pools. 

Level 3 meets can be organised in two ways: the club may select swimmers based on times already achieved - fastest to slowest, or they may accept all entrants, including those with no times, on a first come, first served basis until the meet is full. 

Level 2 

Level 2 meets all take place in a short course pool (25 metre). 

Level 1 

Level 1 meets are long course (LC) which means they are swum in 50 metre pools. They require a specific number of fully qualified officials to fulfill their license and cover National, Regional and some County competitions. 

All Level 1 meets have race entry time requirements and times must have been achieved at meets of Level 3 or above.

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