Competition Programme

1. General Conditions (to be read in conjunction with the Rules of Cumbria Amateur Swimming Association)

1.1 The combined Cumbria Age Group and County Championships (hereafter 'the Championships') shall be competed for annually in accordance with the Rules of the Association, ASA Laws and ASA Technical Rules.

1.2 The Age Group individual competition shall consist of the following age groups for each sex:
- 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 years and 16 years and over

1.3 Individual county championship events for each sex will comprise Open and Junior awards where there are Junior events. Juniors will be 16 years and under on the final day of the competition.

1.4 Age Group teams events for each sex will comprise the following age groupings:
- 9/10 year olds
- 11/12 year olds
- 13/14 year olds
- 15/16 year olds

Teams must comprise swimmers of the appropriate Age Groups.

1.5 County championship teams events shall consist of Open and Junior categories for each sex. Juniors will be 16 years and under on the final day of the competition. It is permissible for Junior age swimmers to compete in the Open age category.

1.6 Qualifying times will be applied to all individual events. For the 2010 championships qualifying times must have been achieved in the period since January 1st 2009.

1.7 There will be no upper limit times or qualifying times for any team events.

1.8 Entry to teams events will be limited to 2 teams per club.

1.9 Over the top starts will be in operation during these championships (except in the backstroke events and team events).

1.10 The entry fee for individual events is £3.00 and for team events £5.00.

1.11 Age on the day will be as of March 20th 2010.

1.12 The closing date for entries will be February 3rd 2010. Late, poolside, or improved entries will not be accepted.

2. The Events

2.1 Age Group individual events

3. Individual events to be swum

3.1 Backstroke: 50m 9/over
100m 11/over girls, 12/over boys
200m 9/over

Breaststroke: 50m 9/over
100m 11/over girls, 12/over boys
200m 9/over

Butterfly: 50m 9/over
100m 11/over girls, 12/over boys
200m 9/over

Freestyle: 50m 9/over
100m 11/over girls, 12/over boys
200m 9/over
400m 10/over
800m 11/over girls and 12/over boys
1500m 11/over girls and 12/over boys

Individual Medley: 100m 9/over
200m 9/over
400m 11/over


3.2 Age Group finals will be swum in the following events:
- 50m events: 9, 10, 11 year boys and 9, 10 year old girls.
- 100m backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle: 12 year and upward boys and 11 year and upward girls.
- all other Age Group events will be determined by HDW principles.

3.3 Results of County Championship events for 50m, 100m and 200m events will be determined by finals. All other Championships will be determined on the HDW principle.

3.4 Results of Junior County Championships events will be determined from the times of the fastest junior age swimmers (if any) in the Championship final of the given event followed by the times of the remaining fastest swimmers in the heats.

4. British Age Group Categories (BagCats)

4.1 The FINA points scoring system will be used to rank swimmers in each age group.

4.2 FINA points will be awarded for each event in which a swimmer achieves a time. The highest point scoring events in each category will be added together to give an overall score (see table below) from which rankings will be determined.

FINA Points

FINA points assigns point to swimming performances; the base time for 1000 points in each event is recalculated every year, based an the average of the top ten of the All Time World Rankings. The short course tables will be used for these championships. GB/Bagcat points have been discontinued. The use of FINA points allows swimmers' times to be compared across age groups, which was not possible with Bagpoints, since whatever age a swimmer is their time will score the same number of points.

5. Entry conditions

5.1 Entries to individual events and relays shall reach the Competition Organiser no later than February 3rd 2010accompanied by the appropriate fee. Late, poolside, or improved entries will not be accepted.

5.2 The Sportsystems Entry Manager shall be used for submitting entries to these championships. The necessary Sportsystems entry file can be downloaded from the Cumbria ASA website (www.swimcumbria.org.uk).

5.3 Qualifying times can be achieved at any of the following:

- any meet where a computerised results service is in operation
- a club championship
- an inter club meet where individual events are swum (friendly, Sprint League, Diddy League.) Note that Arena National Swimming League times are not acceptable.
- a club time trial where at least two judges are officiating and where at least one timekeeper is in operation on the lanes in use.

5.4 Entries to the 800m events will be restricted to a maximum of 18 boys and 18 girls who will compete in separate events. Entries to the 1500m events will be restricted to no more than 6 boys and 6 girls who will also compete in separate events.

5.5 Entries will be audited and any club may be challenged to demonstrate the authenticity of the information provided.

5.6 It is the responsibility of clubs to ensure that their entries are correct.

5.7 Swimmers may swim for a time only in any event where they can demonstrate the need to set a qualifying time for any 2010 Regional or National event for which they will reach the required age after the end of the Cumbria Championships.

6. Disability competitors

6.1 The general conditions for the Cumbria Age Group and County Championships shall apply to disability competitors except where varied by any of the following conditions.

6.2 Swimmers with the indicated classifications will be accepted for the following events:
o Freestyle 50m, 100m, (S1 to S14); 200m (S1 to S5); 400m (S6 to S14)
o Backstroke 50m (S1 to S5), 100m (S6 to S14)
o Butterfly 50m (S2 to S7), 100m (S8 to S14)
o Breaststroke 50m (SB1 to SB3), 100m (SB4 to SB9 and SB11 to SB14)
o Individual Medley 100m, 200m (SM5 to SM14)

6.3 All competitors must:
o Hold a valid British Swimming Functional Ability Card (FAC) OR a valid Certificate of Disability issued by the ASA at the time of entry.
o The FAC or the Certificate of Disability must be presented to the referee before the start of the race in which the competitor is entered. Failure to do so will result in the swimmer being liable to disqualification for non-compliance with the rules for a particular stroke.

6.4 Qualifying times for swimmers with a FAC have been set in accordance with British Swimming guidelines (see section 12 below).
Qualifying times for swimmers with a Certificate of Disability are in accordance with section 11 below.

6.5 Personal Care Attendants/Coaches will be permitted for swimmers in the following classes: S1, S2, S3, S4 and S11. All coaches, chaperones and personal care attendants must conform with the ASA child protection procedures.

6.6 Competition format:
o The competition format will be based on disability inclusion within the able bodied programme.
o All swimmers will be seeded in the heats according to their entry times.
o Disability competitors will be included within the results for their age group.
o There will be no separate disability results.

7. Team Events

7.1 A swimmer entered in the name of one club in the individual events may not compete in the name of another club in the team events. An exception to this rule can be applied for swimmers in relay teams providing the participants have not entered any individual events.

7.2 The names of the members of a relay team for each event shall be lodged with the recorders on a team sheet prior to the commencement of the warm-up of that session. An individual may only be nominated to swim for one team in any one event.

7.3 The composition of a relay team may be changed between the heats and the final of an event provided that it is made up from the list of swimmers properly entered in accordance with paragraph 7.2 above for that event. Following the recall of a race the order of swimming may be changed so that another member of the same team swims the first leg. Substitutions may only be made in the case of a documented medical emergency.

7.4 Any swimmer who competes in a relay event but who has not swum in an individual event in the Championships must be registered with the Competition Organiser no later than the start of the appropriate session on March 20th 2010.

7.5 Any team not complying with these requirements or swimming an ineligible person will be disqualified and 6 points will be deducted from the Cumbria Trophy or Tommy Hatch Trophy as appropriate.

8. Meet Procedures

8.1 The secondary card entry system will NOT be in operation.

8.2 As stated in para. 5.1 above entries must be received no later than February 3rd 2010. As soon as possible after this date each club will be sent draft programmes that should be used to cross check the accuracy of the entries and to allow any necessary corrections to be made.

8.3 Withdrawals will be accepted until the start of the warm up for each session. There will be no refund of entry fees.

8.4 Any withdrawals after the closing deadline will result in heats being swum with empty lanes.

8.5 Any swimmer who has previously withdrawn can be reinstated before the appropriate closing deadline without penalty.

8.6 Heat Start Lists will be made available to clubs as soon as possible after the commencement of the warm-up of each session.

8.7 Heats that culminate in a final shall be spearheaded with the last three heats being cyclically seeded. All heat declared
winner events shall be spearheaded, except at the discretion of the gala director (for example where cyclic seeding could lead to an unfair situation for one or more competitors).

8.8 In the finals, the maximum number of places practicable (up to a maximum of six) shall be allocated. Two reserves will be declared for finals where possible.

8.9 Lanes for finals shall be allocated on the spearhead principle.

8.10 Finalists and reserve finalists (in individual events) shall declare to the gala director, after the posting of the results or notification that the event would be swum as a straight final, if they intend to withdraw from the event. Any competitor who withdraws from any final in such a manner as to prevent a reserve from taking part (except in the case of genuine illness or a proven emergency) shall be suspended from future events in the current Championships.

8.11 Withdrawal from an Age Group final will result in automatic exclusion from any corresponding Championship final that the swimmer may have qualified for.

8.12 Where a reserve is brought in, the reserve shall occupy the vacant lane and there will be no amendments made to the allocation of other lanes.

8.13 Swimmers must present themselves to the Competitors Stewards one event prior to the one in which they are competing. It is the swimmer's responsibility to be at the start in time for the race. This applies to both heats and finals.

9. Trophies and Medals

9.1 Medals shall be awarded to competitors placed first, second and third in the individual County Championship and Junior County Championship events.

9.2 Medals shall be awarded to members of teams placed first, second and third in the County Championship teams events.

9.3 Age group badges shall be awarded to members of teams placed first, second and third in the Age Group teams events.

9.4 Age group badges will be awarded to competitors placed first, second and third in each age group for each 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m event that is swum. Age Group badges will not be presented for 800m and 1500m events since these are Championship events only.