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Level X

What are the racing conditions

Level X Racing Logo

Held under Swim England Level X Racing Guidance

1. Level X Racing must be compliant with Swim England Return to Training Guidance.

As per Swim England guidance swimmers should only be considering this training race opportunity if appropriate and sufficient return to training has taken place. The appropriate and sufficient decision will be guided by the club coach. It is essential that all swimmers possess the physical fitness to complete the race distance in a safe manner

2. Level X Racing must comply fully with Government guidance relating to social distancing, in addition to the specific health and safety requirements of the venue.

3. Level X Racing is a time-trial activity that takes place within club training sessions, involving only those swimmers who normally train within that session. It is not a gala, but a training activity with a racing skills focus.

4. Where possible, clubs may book additional pool time for the purposes of conducting Level X Racing, but the number and grouping of swimmers present in a single session of racing must remain compliant with Swim England Return to Training guidance.

5. A Swim England Meet Licence is not required for Level X Racing session.

6. Swimmers must be a Swim England Category 2 member in order to participate in Level X racing. Current Category 1 members who participate will be automatically upgraded free of charge. This temporary Category 2 membership will be valid until 31st December 2020. There will be no free upgrade in 2021.

7. Ages shall be determined as at midnight on 31 December of the year of the time trial. There are no formal age groups for Level X Racing. It will however, be possible to filter by age group on Swim England Rankings. For this purpose, the age groups are 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18 and Open.
Masters rankings will be filterable by standard Masters age groupings.

8. Two technical officials, qualified at a minimum of British Swimming Judge Level 1 and members of Swim England shall be appointed for the control of the session.

9. These technical officials shall be responsible for starting the race in accordance with Swim England Technical Rules. The minimum requirement for a starting device is a whistle. Assistance shall be provided at the start for hearing-impaired swimmers who request it, in accordance with the Swim England Para Swimming Return to Training Guidance.

10. One Swim England Member of any category shall be appointed per lane to act as timekeeper for that lane.

11. Timekeepers shall record the name, distance, stroke and time recorded for each swimmer on paper. The times must not be collected between races. Timekeepers should inform the technical officials if their watch failed to start when the starting signal was given, and if they did not stop the watch when the swimmer touched at the finish.

12. Additional assistance may be provided for athletes who require it to participate (for example visually impaired swimmers may need a tapper), but all personnel on deck must adhere to social distancing guidelines and must not exceed the maximum number of personnel allowed on poolside according to the venue’s risk assessment.

13. Backstroke Starting Devices (Ledges) should not be used.

14. Swimmers should attempt to participate in their races in accordance with Swim England Technical Rules. Disqualifications for infractions of the technical rules should only be made if the infraction committed provides the swimmer with an unfair advantage. If a swimmer is slowed by their infraction, advice may be given by a coach to help the swimmer improve.

15. In the event of a valid time not being available for a swimmer, the swimmer is permitted to re-swim.

16. When the results for a session are generated, a check should be made that no time recorded significantly differs from the likely performance of the swimmer.

17. The following events may be considered to be Level X Racing distances:

  • 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m,1500m Freestyle
  • 50m, 100m, 200m Butterfly
  • 50m, 100m, 200m Backstroke
  • 50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke
  • 100m, 150m*, 200m, 400m Individual Medley

*this event is for SM1-SM4 classified athletes only
All events take place in short course (25m) format

18. As part of a Level X Racing session, swimmers may be timed at other distances, but only Swim England-sanctioned Level X distances will be placed on rankings. Results files should not be submitted containing events that have not been sanctioned by Swim England as Level X events.

19. Level X Racing may take place over a number of sessions. At the conclusion of each session the results shall be inputted into meet management software which is capable of producing a results file which can be inputted into Swim England rankings. It should be sent to Swim England Rankings using the issued Formstack link.

Masters results must be submitted as a separate file.

20. Clubs must submit their results as a zip file within 48 hours of the Level X Racing session taking place.

21. SPORTSYSTEMS will provide a free version of their Meet Organisation software to enable clubs who do not possess access to Meet Management software to submit their results. This can be requested direct from SPORTSYSTEMS by emailing support@sportsys.co.uk

22. The results will be placed on Rankings as Level X Racing meet times, subject to the submitted file being accurate. Errors in the files will be returned to the club for correction and may be re-submitted.

23. Clubs, Counties, Regions, Swim England and other recognised bodies may award prizes and create leader boards to commemorate swimmer achievement. If this is the case, supplementary conditions shall be published by the respective organisation to indicate how such prizes and leader boards will be determined.

24. Clubs may levy a fee to facilitate the organisation of Level X Racing opportunities.