BRACKNELL AND WOKINGHAM

SWIMMING CLUB
Affiliated to Swim England South East Region

27th Bracknell Masters Open Meet

Saturday 4th March 2023

Short Course at
Bracknell Leisure Centre
Bagshot Road, Bracknell, RG12 9SE

Entry Pack and Information Pack

Entries accepted on a first come, first served basis.

PROMOTER Bracknell & Wokingham Swimming Club

ENTRIES SECRETARY Rob Moore

Email: mastersmeet@bwscswim.org.uk
 BRACKNELL AND WOKINGHAM SWIMMING CLUB
MASTERS OPEN MEET – SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2023
Information for competitors and promoter’s conditions
Covid-19
It is possible that we may need to adopt specific measures to comply with any government or
leisure centre restrictions or guidance. These will be notified to entrants before the meet. By
entering you are recognising and accepting that such measures may be imposed later.
General Information
The venue is Bracknell Leisure Centre, Bagshot Road, Bracknell. Bracknell Leisure Centre
offers a 25 metre competition pool, with 6 lanes and electronic timing, plus an adjacent
second 25 metre pool which can be used for continuous warm up throughout the meet. There
is a large free car park at the centre and a cafeteria.
Please note that at the time of writing the leisure centre are working on a plan to relocate the
blocks to the deep end of the pool to comply with the (currently suspended) revised Swim
England guidance on minimum pools depths for a diving start. This work is not as straight
forward as it sounds, and whether it is completed before the meet will depend on what Swim
England do next on the minimum depth guidance. So, it is possible that all races will start at
the opposite end of the pool to “normal”.
The meet will be run in accordance with Swim England Laws and Technical Rules of Racing.
Events will be swum in two sessions, as follows (NB session times are provisional and will be
confirmed once entries have closed):

Session 1: Warm up 12.00 pm. Events start 12.45 pm. Registration by 12.00 pm.
Session 2: Warm up 4:30 pm. Events start 5:00 pm. Registration by 4.30 pm.

Mixed 4x25m Butterfly Relay

Unfortunately, the shallow end at Bracknell (1.25m) does not meet the minimum depth for
diving starts under the new (suspended) Swim England guidance (1.35m). It is currently
unclear what the rules will be in March 2023. If it is still permissible, we will be repeating the
Mixed 4x25 Butterfly relay again this year (at the end of session 1). However, if the 1.35m
minimum depth does apply, we will run a modified event. This will be 4 x 25m relay, with legs
2 and 4 starting in the water. The nature of fly, makes a take over in the water with the
incoming swimmer doing fly somewhat unsafe! So the modified event will be front
crawl/fly/front crawl/fly. That is with legs 1 and 3 starting from the blocks and swimming front
crawl (ie fly is not permitted) and legs 2 and 4 starting is the water and swimming fly.
It sounds draft, but we are very reluctant to discontinue this event entirely. As a reminder, this
event was instituted in 2018 as a tribute to long time Bracknell Masters member, Mike Daniell,
as a fun event. It has been incredibly well supported by Mike’s many friends in the masters
community, and we really want to continue to remember Mike and offer some fun events at
the meet.
Entries can only be made on the day, and there is no entry fee. Full details will be provided in
the Information for Competitors document.

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MASTERS OPEN MEET – SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2023

Mixed 6x50m Tandem Relay

After its successful introduction last year, we will be repeating the Mixed 6x50m Tandem
Freestyle Relay as the final event of session 2.
 Teams must comprise of 6 swimmers
 There must be at least 2 men and 2 women in each team
 The total age of the team must be at least 180 years
 The team must nominate a swimming order on the team declaration form
 A club may enter more than one team
The race works as follows
 All 6 swimmers enter the pool in their allocated lane at the opposite end to the
start/finish and swim towards to the finish to take up their starting positions, as follows.
Swimmers 1 and 2 on the wall and swimmers 3 – 6 lined up back towards the
backstroke flags
 On the starting signal, swimmer 1 (as nominated on the team declaration form) pushes
off the wall, followed by swimmer 2. Swimmer 3 swims to the wall and pushes off and
so on.
 The six swimmers then swim in procession in a clockwise direction. There is no
overtaking within the lane at any point in the race.
 After swimmer 1 completes 50m, he/she drops out and the procession is lead by
swimmer 2
 After swimmer 2 completes 100m, he/she drops out the procession is lead by swimmer
3, and so on
 The final leg is swimmer 6 swimming alone, and the race finishes when swimmer 6
completes his/her solo 50m and 300m for the team.
 All legs are freestyle
 Swimmers who have dropped out should leave the pool by the side as soon as it is
safe to do. The usual relay rules on impeding swimmers from other teams apply, and
exceptionally it may be necessary for swimmers to stay in their lane beyond the next
“drop out”.
Medals will be awarded to the fastest three teams, but this is intended to be a fun event,
so it would be great to have a good entry.

“Normal” Relays
If the currently suspended change to the Swim England rules on pool depths is reinstated we
will no longer be able to hold 4x25m relays with change overs incorporating a dive. In light of
the uncertainty, this year we will be offering a 4x50m Freestyle Relay and a 4x50m Medley
Relay.
Holding separate events for each age group will result in the relays taking considerably more
of the session time which in turn will mean that we can accept fewer entries for individual
swims. That does not seem sensible when demand for individual swims is so strong, so this
year teams from all age groups will swim in the same event, but there will continue to be
separate awards for each age group (see Awards below). This change will however allow us
to offer a wider range of age groups.
Each event will be limited to a maximum of 18 teams across all age groups). Clubs may enter
more than one team in each age group, but if we need to restrict entries, preference will be
given to “first teams” over “second teams” and so on. Swimmers may compete in more than

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 BRACKNELL AND WOKINGHAM SWIMMING CLUB
MASTERS OPEN MEET – SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2023
one team in a relay event, however they should be aware the two teams might be seeded in
the same heat. Changes to seeding to accommodate such “doubling up” will not be made.

Awards and Age Groups

Age Groups are: 18/24, 25/29, 30/34, 35/39, 40/44, 45/49, 50/54, 55/59, 60/64, 65/69, 70/74,
75/79, 80/84, and 85 plus.
Relay Age Groups are: 72 – 119 years, 120 – 159 years, 160 – 199 years, 200 – 239 years,
and 240 years plus
Seniors and Masters may swim in all relay teams, including the Tandem Relay.
All ages are as of 31st December 2023. Seniors must be 18 or over on 4 March 2023. Heats
will be arranged based on the submitted entry times, from slowest to fastest. Swimmers
should enter an estimate of the time they expect to be able to swim. Over the top starts may
be used, except for backstroke. All 200m events will be swum in mixed heats. As far as
possible relay teams from the same age group will swim together in the heats.
All events will be decided on a Heat Declared Winner system. Medals will be presented to
first, second and third places in each age group of each individual event, and to the first
placed relay team in each age group.
A trophy will be awarded to the visiting team with the highest combined team score. Team
points will be awarded for the top six places, six points for first place, five for second place,
and so on with one point for sixth place. No points will be awarded for the Mixed 4x25m
Butterfly relay.
Trophies will be awarded to the top female and top male swimmer of the meet. The winners
will be decided using a points-based method with age adjusted points calculated using a
similar method to the British Swimming Master Decathlon Competition. The awards will be
made based on the points for the best five swims (of any distance and stroke combination).
The Mike Daniell Trophy will be awarded to the swimmer (male or female) achieving the
highest number of points in the 200m Butterfly event.
Results will be available on the Bracknell & Wokingham SC website www.bwscswim.org.uk as
soon as possible after the meet. We will also be posting the results at
https://bsbasa.org/results (accessible on a smartphone) ASAP after each event finishes.

Entry Procedure
All entries must be made and paid for online at https://bsbasa.org/meet/bwscma23. Payment
can be made via credit/debit card. Entries open 1st December 2022.
The closing date for individual entries is midnight on 11th February 2023. The closing date for
team entries is midnight on 18th February 2023. Any entries made but not paid at the closing
date will be deemed to be invalid and may not be accepted. Entries received after this date
may be accepted at the discretion of the promoter.
Entries for individual swims and the Tandem Relay will be accepted on a first come, first
served basis. The meet has been very popular in recent years and it is very likely that we will
need to stop accepting entries for events and or sessions, or the meet as a whole before, the
closing date. Where we close entries early, any entries made but not paid for at that time may
not be accepted. The basis on which the 4 x 50m relay entries will be accepted is set out
above.
Once events have closed for entries (midnight on 11th February 2023, or earlier as above) no
refunds will be made for entries withdrawn after that time under any circumstances.

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 BRACKNELL AND WOKINGHAM SWIMMING CLUB
MASTERS OPEN MEET – SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2023
All swimmers must be current Swim England “Club Compete” members at the time they enter.
You can check your membership record at http://www.swimming.org/swimengland/club-
member-check/. A swimmer may only swim for one club at the meet and must be a registered
member of that club. We will be checking compliance with the above and any entries that do
not comply will not be accepted.
By entering, all swimmers are confirming that they:
 are “Club Compete” registered swimmers, with their Swim England Registration
numbers as provided in the on-line entry process
 have all read and understood the Promoter's Conditions and accept them,
 are members of their entry club
 the declared dates of birth and entry times are correct
In the case of relay entries, by entering a relay team the person entering is confirming the
above (with necessary adaptation) is correct in relation to the swimmers who will swim in that
team and will be declared on the relay declaration forms (see below).
The entry fees are £6.00 per individual event and £10.00 per relay team.

Use of Data
Entries for this meet are made via the on-line entry system. You can see how the data
collected will be used at https://bsbasa.org/WebEntry/dataPolicy.html. The data collected will
be transferred to the BWSC meet management system (also held on computers). This
information (together with the meet results) may be used:
 to contact entrants and their clubs regarding entries and the running of the meet
 to publish entry information on the BWSC website once entries have closed
 to publish results at the meet venue and on the BWSC websites
 to publish start lists and results on a mobile application see
https://bsbasa.org/MeetResults/privacy_policy.html for the privacy policy of the mobile
application
 for submitting the results to Swim England Rankings and the Decathlon Competition
 to send results to competing clubs (for their swimmers only)
When entering, entrants will be offered the opportunity to elect to receive information about
future similar events. Entrants who do not make this election will only be contacted in relation
to this meet.
By entering the meet, entrants are consenting for their data (and that of the swimmers) to be
used as above.

Registration Procedure
No cards will be issued, but see below regarding relays. Confirmation of accepted entries will
be posted on the BWSC website www.bwscswim.org.uk as soon as possible after the closing
date (this should be no later than 18th February 2023). Competitors should check the
confirmation of accepted entries carefully. Most errors can be corrected prior to the meet. It is
most unlikely that errors can be corrected on the day. An Information for Competitors
document will also be published. This will contain important information about the meet; it is
important that competitors refer to this.
The meet will be run on a “registration basis” for individual events. That is, individual
competitors will need to sign in for each event that they have entered to signify that they are
present and intend to swim in that event. Registration will close when the warm-up starts for
the session concerned. Swimmers who have not registered prior to this time may be able to

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 BRACKNELL AND WOKINGHAM SWIMMING CLUB
MASTERS OPEN MEET – SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2023
swim in any empty lanes in the first heat, but otherwise will not be able to swim. Full details of
the registration process will be posted on the BWSC website.

Relay team declaration forms will be sent by email before the meet (except for the 4x25m
Butterfly relay which can only be entered on the day). The names of the swimmers in each
team must be “declared” on the forms and then posted in the box provided on the
announcer’s desk no later than the start of the warm-up for the relevant session. Teams who
do not complete and return relay declaration forms in time will not be eligible to swim.
Clubs may change the age group of their relays teams prior to the warm up for the relevant
session and the procedure for doing this will be set out on the relay team declaration form.

Meet Officials
BWSC strive to provide a professionally run meet and rely on the valuable contribution of
Officials who volunteer their time to support us. We cannot provide all the officials from within
the club and are very keen to hear from officials who can help on the day. . Officials can sign
up at https://www.swim-meet.com/OfficialsSignup/BracknellWokinghamSC/. If we do not
have enough officials coming forward, then the meet cannot run!

Programme of Events
The programme of events for the meet is set out in a separate document.
The Promoter reserves the right to amend the Programme of Events to ensure the smooth
running of the Meet.

Warm-Up Facilities
The Competition Pool will be available for warm-up before the start of each session; see the
summary programme for warm up timings. The other 25m (training) pool will be available
throughout the meet for warm up and swim down.

Records
The pool at Bracknell does not have the appropriate pool length certificate and Swim England
are no longer accepting record applications for times set at Bracknell. This does not affect
Masters Rankings or the Decathlon competition, and times from the meet will still be
submitted and accepted for these.

Other Conditions
Competitors are responsible for arriving at the start in good time to swim in their designated
heat. Heat start list will be posted as soon as possible after registration has closed, bearing in
mind that it does take some time to process registered swimmers in the meet management
system.
Any dispute related to a matter not covered in these conditions shall be determined by the
Promoter.
The Promoter reserves the right to amend any of the conditions in this document to ensure
the smooth running of the Meet.
The promoter will not be responsible for loss or damage occurring during the meet.

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