Hannah joined Black Country n Potteries in 2018. She’d not taken part in a swimming competition for over 20 years. Whilst she really enjoyed her return she didn’t know an awful lot about Masters and thought it might be useful to provide a little more background information. If you’re new to Masters perhaps you’ll find the hint’s really useful and who knows you may even decide to send in your own queries to help expand the page. Hannah hope’s you do.

What is the age range of masters swimmers? 

Usually Masters competitions include individual events for age groups from 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 and continue in 5 yr age groups, with Masters swimming competing into their eighties, nineties and beyond! Relays combine the ages of all participating swimmers. So a team which includes a 40, 35, 25 and 50 year old would have a combined age of 150 years and therefore compete in relays for 120+. Relay categories are every 40 years: 120+, 160+, 200+, 240+, etc. 

Where do you train or where can I join people to train? 

Because of the large geographic area Black Country n Potteries members come from, and their wide range of personal circumstances, BCPM holds no recognised training sessions. However this does mean we can and do share information about a wide range of opportunities covering a large area. Just tells us what you are looking for and we’ll try to help.

Who runs BCPM and who are the committee members? 

Black Country n Potteries committee members are as follows:

Chairperson – Caroline Jones

Treasurer – Jennifer Powell

Secretary – Kath Tunnicliffe

Welfare, Relays and Relay Fund – Lindsey Gowland

Membership – Sharon Evans

What are the different meets and how can you enter each one? Do you need to start at local level then progress to regional/national? 

BCPM provides an annual calendar of targeted events, where club members are encouraged to participate. It also indicates those meets the club expects to complete in relay events. The calendar also provides a brief description of the type of competition you could expect. Progression to district and national competition is up to you (see question below)

Meets – what are the typical races and how do you get to do the relays?

Typical races are 50 and 100m all strokes, and 100m IM. Beyond that it can vary, although our calendar of targeted meets will provide details of when and where meets have swims available in 25m, all strokes, 400m, 800m 1500m, Freestyle, and 200, 400 Individual Medley. How to get into relay squads? We always stress once you enter a meet and are interested in relays, let Lindsey Gowland know. We include her email and phone number (text). She is our Relay Secretary and will do her best to include you.

Bench mark swim times – where can you find these?

Interesting question? 

You’ll find Staffordshire records at: https://www.staffsasa.co.uk/county-records.html

You’ll find a top 25 national rankings list for all swimmers who compete in any recognised meet. This is organised in every event for all age groups, each year. Take a look at: https://www.swimmingresults.org/masterseventrankings/

How do the regional and nationals work? Selection process/self nomination?

Regionals, any registered swimmer can enter.

Nationals, there are entry times which must have been swum in a recognised competition in the past two years.

Do you have to be part of a masters club to swim in regionals or can you be part of a swim club?

Any swim club that registers Masters competitive members with Swim England is fine.