Qualifying for County, Regional and National Championships

Competitive swimming in England follows a county, then regional, then national schedule. Swimmers need to be of a qualifying standard to take part in Championships held at each of these three levels throughout the year.

At Blythe Barracudas, we are affiliated with Warwickshire at a county level, West Midlands at a regional level, and England and Great Britain at a national level.

Age classifications

Although competitive swimming has a ‘season’ which runs from September through to July/early August (with not much of an ‘off-season’!), the age groupings we use are based on the calendar year. A swimmer’s age for events at county level or higher is invariably their age on 31st December of any given year.

So, for example, if you want to compete in a Championships held during 2024, and your birthday is 25th November 2011, you will be competing as a 13-year-old, because on 31st December 2024, you will be 13 years old.

(Note that this is not always the case at lower license level meets or at galas, where a competitor’s age may be their age on the date of the event, their age on the final day of a series of events – this happens most often with league galas – or their age on 31st December. This information will always be provided in the information sent out by the organizing body or club for any given event, and we at Blythe will normally also make you aware of it).

Warwickshire County Championships

Warwickshire County Championships take place once in a calendar year, over two weekends at the end of January/start of February. All the information you will need for this event can be found on the Events page of www.warwickshireasa.co.uk. Swimmers from all Warwickshire-affiliated clubs are invited to attend, and all swimmers must be registered with Swim England at Club Compete level.

Qualifying times

There are qualifying times (QTs) that need to be achieved for each age group, gender and event, and these are normally released in late September/early October for the County Championships taking place a few months later. 

It is the responsibility of each swimmer/parent to check the QTs for these Championships each year and ascertain whether you have qualified for them in the desired events. This may help guide event selection for an upcoming meet, for example, if you are close to a QT and are hoping to achieve it.

Here is an example of a Qualifying Times table for the Warwickshire County Championships in January/February 2023.

You will see the times listed per age group and gender category, and you’ll also see there are a few events which are not open to entries from swimmers younger than 12 years old. The youngest age group able to swim is 10-year-olds.

These QTs are times achieved in a short course (25m) pool, although conversions from long course (50m) pools will be accepted – you can use this tool to convert between long and short course times: http://www2.sportsys.co.uk/time.asp. The Championships themselves will take place in a 50m pool.

You will also see that these QTs needed to be achieved between the 1st March 2022 and 26th December 2022 (latter date not indicated on the image below, but can be found in the Championship’s conditions document). This is the year prior to these Championships. The times also need to have been achieved in a licensed meet and published on GB Rankings https://www.swimmingresults.org/. Times from swims at events licensed at Level 4 (Club Championships) and higher will be accepted.

Note: Normally, when a QT is given with only one number after the decimal point, this means that times at 9 hundredths of a second and below are acceptable. For example, the QT in the table above for female 12-year-olds swimming 400m IM is 6:33.9. Normally, a time of 6:33.99 or below would be a QT for this event. Sometimes, though, hundredths of a second are stipulated in the QT table.

Note 2: There will usually be a note in the Championships' conditions document to state that the QTs provided for an event are advisory only. This is a protective clause in the situation that a particular event becomes oversubscribed and the Championships’ running time/order is compromised. Prior to the Championships starting, accepted and rejected entries will be published and clubs will be notified of any rejected entries.

Entering a County Championships

All entries to Warwickshire County Championships must be processed via Blythe Barracudas. There is no possibility of individual entries. Dual-registered (e.g. City of Birmingham SC) swimmers will enter County Championships via Blythe Barracudas and represent Blythe Barracudas at the meet.

Invitations to the Championships will be sent out on email via SCM, normally in December ahead of the Championships starting the following month. If you believe you have a qualifying time for an event but you have not received an invitation, or you are not provided with the option to enter times for certain events, please contact the Competitions Secretary.

An entry fee is charged per race entered.

West Midlands Regional Championships

The West Midlands Region holds Championships twice each year – a long course (50m) event over two weekends in late April/early May, and a short course (25m) event over one weekend in early November.

The West Midlands Region includes swimmers from Warwickshire-, Shropshire-, Worcestershire- and Staffordshire-affiliated clubs, and all swimmers must be registered at Club Compete level with Swim England. See further information at https://westmidlandswimming.org.uk/

Age Groups

The long course event in April/May recognizes the ‘usual’ age groups, although the youngest age group is 11/12 years old, and the ‘open’ age group is for swimmers aged 17 and older.

The short course event in November only recognizes two age groups: Junior and Senior in both the Female and Male/Open categories. Juniors are 15 years and below by 31st December, and Seniors are 16 years and above by 31st December.

Qualifying Times

An example of a QT table for a Regional Championships (long course) is shown below. Note that, different to the County Championships, these QTs must have been recorded in a 50m pool, although conversions (http://www2.sportsys.co.uk/time.asp) from times achieved in a 25m pool will be accepted. These times must have been achieved at a meet licensed at Level 3 or higher (Level 4 – Club Championships – times are not acceptable) between early April the year prior to the Championships and early April the year of the Championships.

An example of a QT table for a Winter short course Regional Championships is shown below. These times must have been achieved at a Licence Level 3 or higher event between early September in the year prior to the Championships and mid-October of the year of the Championships. Qualifying times are short course but may be converted from long course times (http://www2.sportsys.co.uk/time.asp). 

Entering a Regional Championships

All Blythe Barracudas entries to West Midlands Championships must be processed via the club. There is no possibility of individual entries. Dual-registered (e.g. City of Birmingham SC) swimmers will enter Regional Championships via City of Birmingham only, and will represent City of Birmingham SC at the meet.

Invitations to the Championships will be sent out on email via SCM, normally a month ahead of the Championships starting the following month. If you believe you have a QT for an event but you have not received an invitation, or you are not provided with the option to enter times for certain events, please contact the Competitions Secretary.

An entry fee is charged per race entered.

National Championships

National Championships are split into the British Championships, with entrants from all four home nations, and English Championships, with English entrants only.

England must be selected as your country of representation in your Swim England registration to take part in the English Championships (other home nations hold their own National Championships), and one of the home nations must be selected as your country of representation, to take part in the British Championships.

British Summer Championships (long course, age group) take place each year at the end of July, and English Summer Championships (long course, age group) take place at the start of August. Both British Swimming and Swim England also hold Open age group events during the year. The British Swimming event is held in early April and is a long course event. The Swim England Winter meet is held in early December each year and is a short course event.

The QT windows for each of these events are short and very specific. The youngest age group for the English Summer Championships is 12/13 years for girls, and 13/14 years for boys. The youngest age group for the British Summer Championships is 13/14 for girls and 14/15 for boys.

Invitations to National Championships come directly to swimmers from British Swimming or Swim England, based on each swimmer’s national ranking for a particular event – only the very best swimmers across the country are invited to these Championships. Entries are managed by the swimmer/parent directly. Ensure that your email address and all other details are up to date in the Swim England database to ensure that you receive all notifications and invitations from these governing bodies.