Stage one meet

[wendy]

Draft programme on line for the stage one meet at Loughborough on Sunday, with only two heats per event I thought there would be rejections!

http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4716-170755-187973-97904-0-file,00.pdf

[lane4]

Is this meet the Loughborough Club Championships in disguise? ;)

Is Laura Chase looking for a new challenge by contesting the men's events? ;)

Is it the case that you must attend this meet if you want to represent England at the Commonwealth Games?

[Pink Paraffin]

L4 you have the nail right on the head. In theory, anyone who has not entered this meet will not be selected for England...

And to make things even more interesting, it would seem that this is not a 'real' meet because I've been told that you can't break British or English short course records at it!!

[Curly]

Presumably those training abroad don't have to attend. I don't see Rebecca Cooke on the programme - hopefully this is either a mistake or has a simple explanation.

I know I bought this up in a previous thread, but I still don't understand the purpose of this meet and in what way it would benefit either the swimmers or Team England. Can anyone explain to me?

[Katie]

What a pointless looking meet. Some of the events only have 2 people in! And yes, it does look like Laura's swimming the mens' events!!

[Vicki]

I really dont understand the purpose of this meet - can anyone shed some light.

Won't this just interrupt those in training for stage 3 meet in Swansea, in terms of travelling etc?

[lane4]

In theory, anyone who has not entered this meet will not be selected for England...


But there might be one or two exceptions..?

[Taxiandbank]

But there might be one or two exceptions..?
Burnett, Rock, Alterton?

[fastest1]

I see Foster's not down to swim..........

[Taxiandbank]

I see Foster's not down to swim..........
Davenport only the 400 and 200 free...........despite
"Athletes must compete in at least one 50m event and one 100m event"

[Steve]

Burnett, Rock, Alterton?
Those three fall under the resident and training overseas exception I would have thought, being in Arizona and Southport as they are IIRC.

[lane4]

Those three fall under the resident and training overseas exception I would have thought, being in Arizona and Southport as they are IIRC.

Not sure about Alterton but Alderton is at Southport. ;)

[Steve]

Not sure about Alterton but Alderton is at Southport. ;)
I knew that!

[Taxiandbank]

I knew that!
You have to insert typos in order to detect plagarism!

[Steve]

You have to insert typos in order to detect plagarism!
I'm certainly good at that! :) :p

[Vicki]

Does anyone know why this meet is taking place? what real benefit it has?

[lane4]

Does anyone know why this meet is taking place? what real benefit it has?

If you attend you are eligible for the Commy Games team, if you do not attend then you aren't! (that is apart from those training overseas and others given exceptions for whatever reasons)

[Steve]

Does anyone know why this meet is taking place? what real benefit it has?
I'm guessing a bit, but I reckon it serves as an opportunity for the team staff (mainly Uncle Bill, Ian Turner and the Olympic Coaches) to see how everyone's training is going, provide a base for future measurement etc.

Also I would imagine that everyone attending will be training throughout the weekend in Loughborough on some kind of camp as well. Lane 4 (Despite his cynicsim, :p) or Pinky would probably be able to shed some light on this aspect.

[Vicki]

If you attend you are eligible for the Commy Games team, if you do not attend then you aren't! (that is apart from those training overseas and others given exceptions for whatever reasons)

But i dont see the point in that - what is their jusitifcation? Why do you need to be eligible just from swimming a few events at this meet? Whats the purpose - u know?

[Steve]

But i dont see the point in that - what is their jusitifcation? Why do you need to be eligible just from swimming a few events at this meet? Whats the purpose - u know?
He's being deliberately obtuse - ignore him and he might go away ;):):devil:

[Vicki]

Thanks for shedding some light. i just seems quite bizzare!

[lane4]

Lane 4 (Despite his cynicsim, :p) or Pinky would probably be able to shed some light on this aspect.

I have not heard of any formal training plans over the weekend although I am sure that those who need/want to train will be able to. They are usually quite accommodating in that respect at Loughborough.

[Pink Paraffin]

There's no formal training plans. I'm there as I have at least one athlete that can qualify for the England team and the policy says that they have to be there - so we are and that's the only reason I have for doing it. We're just dropping down from Manchester to Loughborough following the ESSA Finals on the Saturday to give it a whirl

I will be very interested to see which swimmers haven't entered, are not training overseas but still make the England team come Brisbane...

I wish I had the luxury of coaching Scottish swimmers L4!!

[Linny]

PP, if it were not for the fact that it is a requirement to attend, would you think that this competition is a complete waste of time and nothing but a compromising drain on early season training? ;)

[Pink Paraffin]

PP, if it were not for the fact that it is a requirement to attend, would you think that this competition is a complete waste of time and nothing but a compromising drain on early season training? ;)

I see the wink but the answer is yes. The fact we're already in Manchester on the Saturday and that we don't train on a Sunday helps sweeten the pill but the bottom line is if we didn't have to be there, I wouldn't be!

[lane4]

I find it strange that this is a short course meet being held in a long course pool. I thought that most people at this level were searching out more long course opportunities and trying to get away from doing too many short course meets?

[Steve]

I will be very interested to see which swimmers haven't entered, are not training overseas but still make the England team come Brisbane...

Is that the team going back in time to the 1982 Games? ;) Next year's team will of course be competing in Melbourne :):p

[Steve]

I find it strange that this is a short course meet being held in a long course pool. I thought that most people at this level were searching out more long course opportunities and trying to get away from doing too many short course meets?
I remember thinking something similar when I went to the orientation camp media day at Loughborough before the 2003 worlds - the squad there were training with the 50m pool split into 2x25m pools. There must be a reason somewhere :confused:

[Pink Paraffin]

Is that the team going back in time to the 1982 Games? ;) Next year's team will of course be competing in Melbourne :):p

Oops! I suppose if I was perfect I would have got it right at the Trials and would not have to worrying about Stage 3...:)

[Curly]

Davenport only the 400 and 200 free...........despite
"Athletes must compete in at least one 50m event and one 100m event"

There seem to be a huge number of swimmers not entering the required one 50m and one 100m event - and a lot of them seem to come from one club (although there are plenty of others too). Despite the fact that it was a pointless condition in the first place, it should still have been adhered to.

[Katie]

Ahhh I've taken it nice and literally and entered myself some enjoyable events :D

[Katie]

The results are now up, you can find them here: http://asaftp.sportcentric.net/sports/swimming/results/2005/CGStage1/index.htm

[mad4it]

Congrats in the 100 Freestyle Katie! And the 50 Back! Were there no finals?

[NotVeryFast]

The times seem very slow, e.g. 10th place in the mens 100m freestyle was 53.06 which corresponds to 72nd in the 2004 rankings.

Am I right in thinking there was little incentive for people to perform well, i.e. there was no condition of selection other than taking part?

[Katie]

Thanks mad4it it was a big pb woooo! No, no finals, and they kept randomly deciding things (well, I'm sure it wasn't random but I can't say it seemed like they'd thought about these things beforehand) like in the 2nd session you couldn't wear fastskins. There wasn't any particular incentive to do well (except I think if you got the highest score overall you got a cash prize or something... not exactly anything I had to worry about!! It was OK for me because it was only 15 mins down the road, but if I'd come up from Millfield or down from Scotland I think it would have felt like a seriously wasted day. :)