Guide to Galas

Fishguard Flyers is a competitive swimming club. Our young swimmers are encouraged to compete in accordance with their age range and ability. The following is a list of galas the club attends each year in which swimmers are encouraged to enter. There are also some guidelines on what to expect and how to behave.

County Championships

Usually held in October. All squad swimmers are expected to enter – swim as many events as you can. Water Dragons should enter 50m races, possibly 100IM, Dev 1 and 2 swimmers 50m and 100m races including the 100IM and possibly 200IM and Dev 3 swimmers any races but in particular the 200IM. You can enter events that you have swam before or you can enter an event for the first time (No Times entry). Times obtained at these championships will enable entry to other licensed meets throughout the year.

Club Target Meets

Typically the Sub-Regionals at the end of November, Regionals in February and some other selected meets in South-West Wales

Swimmers are strongly encouraged to enter these meets, under the guidance of the Coach. Sub Regionals are open to Swimmers aged 10 and older and No Times entries are encouraged. Swim as many events as you can. Regionals are open to Swimmers aged 11 and older and Qualification times are needed. Other different meets might have different qualifying times or upper cut off times. Times obtained at these events will enable entry to other licensed meets throughout the year.

County Target Meets

Typically the Winter Nationals in December, Age Groups at Easter and Summer Nationals in July/August.

These meets are entered as part of a combined County team. The entry times for these can be quite challenging. All eligible swimmers should enter to maintain their squad status and any place in the County squads – under the guidance of the Coach, swim as many events as you can. Times obtained at these championships will enable entry to other licensed meets throughout the year.

A County swim hat should be worn at these meets (only).

Open Competitions

The club competes at various open meets throughout the season. Please see the competition calendar for more details. Swimmers are not usually permitted to compete at any meets not on the calendar.

Club Championships

Usually held in July in Fishguard Pool. This is a club internal gala and not licensed, meaning that times achieved in this gala cannot be used to enter other galas and do not show up in swimmers best times and rankings. Nevertheless, the fun factor is big and each swimmer is awarded a medal for participation. This is an ideal first gala for our Waterdragons as this will give them a flavour of racing but keep them in their familiar surroundings and with their friends.

Meet Levels

When meets are licensed they are given a level. The level of a gala indicates the standard of the qualifying times.

A level 3 meet may not require entry times (such as the Pembrokeshire County Championships and No Times Gala) and will usually have upper cut off times so that faster swimmers may not enter. Shortcourse or Longcourse.

A level 2 meet will have quite difficult qualification times with around half of our swimmers capable of achieving those. Only Shortcourse meets.

A level 1 meet is the top level of open meet and it is an achievement to qualify for events. Only Longcourse.

Beyond this there are National and International events.

Occasionally, galas refer to AA, A and B standards. These are a slightly different way of splitting swimmers into divisions – sometimes a meet operates with an easy B division and a harder AA division within the same races, and the winners of each section get medals.

Inter-Club Galas

Teams are selected by the fixture secretary and/or club coaches with the aim of entering a competitive team, while including as many squad swimmers as possible. In general, it is a friendly competition against other clubs.

Swimmers should not bring electronic games or books to these, generally short, galas, but should rather be supporting their team mates.