This event will be held Sunday 8th October 2023 at Ponds Forge Sheffield
The County Team Championships is a great event with more than 900 swimmers from over 30 counties racing in two pools at the same time
The event kicks off the competitive short course season and the best swimmers from the home countries participate
Competition Format:
The County Team Championships is split into two divisions. Division 1 typically has 20 teams and Division 2 has up to 20. Each Division race at the same time in two separate 25m pools
There are two heats for each event with heats for Division 2 starting around 20 seconds after those of Division 1
Age Groups:
Individual events are contested over three age groups:
12/13; 14/15 & 16/17 years
There are 100m Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly and Breaststroke events with one swimmer from each county competing in each event
The relays are 4x50m Medley Relays for each age group and the final event is an exciting 6 x 50m Freestyle mixed gender relay
There are two heats for each event and seeding is based on submitted times for the individual events. The relays are randomly drawn
Scoring:
Point scoring is by place with first place worth 20 points, second 19 points and so on right through to one point for 20th place so every swim counts towards the county total
The event is licensed by Swim England
Promotion & Relegation:
At the end of the competition the bottom four teams in Division 1 are relegated to Division 2 for the following year’s event. The top four teams from Division 2 replace these teams in the top flight
In 2022 Leicestershire fought hard but unfortunately were relegated to Division 2. Therefore for 2023 the county is looking to select the strongest team possible to bounce back into Division 1. Based on recent brilliant performances in the British and English Championships Leicestershire swimmers are swimming well so this bodes well for the County Team pushing for promotion
Team Selection:
This is done via Swim England rankings using both short & long course times and those swimmers selected will be notified at the beginning of September. Invitations will be sent out via a swimmer’s base club and the selected team will also be published on the LASA website
Transport is provided to Ponds Forge
Therefore, if you think you are in with a chance of being selected either for an individual or relay event keep the date free as this is a brilliant event to be part of and the most prestigious county team event in the swimming calendar
Any queries can be emailed to swimming@leicestershireasa.org
LASA Swimming Group