Swim Ireland has provided an up-to-date document outlining the competition calendar for the remainder of this year. Due to an increase of COVID-19 cases and subsequent local lockdown measures being enforced, the previously planned Regional Development and Qualifying meets will now take place as virtual competitions in October.
The full *intended* schedule can be found below:
- October 2020 – Virtual Meet (Development & Qualifying Meet combined)
- November 2020 – Actual Meet (Regional SC Championships) with a Virtual Meet plan constructed as a contingency if required
- December 2020 – Actual Meet (National Winter Championships in Dublin)
The Virtual Meet will now replace both the Development and Qualifying meets scheduled for October, and will act as an opportunity for swimmers to qualify for their Regional Short Course (SC) Championships in November.
Clubs will be responsible for running their own meet and can do so across whichever days they chose between the period Saturday October 3rd – Sunday October 25th.
Each virtual event will be comprised of the following events:
- 50m, 100m & 200m Freestyle
- 400m Freestyle*
- 100m, 200m Backstroke, Butterfly & Breaststroke**
- 200m & 400m Individual Medley***
* Swimmers that achieve the QT in the 400m freestyle may also enter the 800m and/or 1500m free at the Regional SC Championships
** Swimmers that achieve the QT in any of the 100m stroke events may also enter the corresponding 50m event at the Regional SC Championships
*** Swimmers that achieve the 200m IM QT may also enter the 100m IM at the Regional SC Championships
Swim Ireland have clearly stated that this plan “is subject to Government of Ireland/Northern Ireland Executive directives announced during October, November and December 2020.” The document in full can be found here.
Yesterday the country recorded 396 new coronavirus cases, with 241 of them being in the Capital and home of the National Aquatic Centre: Dublin. For comparison, the month of August saw the number of cases for the country drop as low as 6/8 per day.
Dublin has now gone back into Level 3 of the Government’s 5-level plan, which has led to Swim Ireland also disclosing that “This plan has been written and can be delivered where the country is operating under Level 2 of the Government’s COVID-19 Framework (ROI). Where Level 3 or additional measures (ROI and NI) have been introduced additional or enhanced requirements will be required and more information will follow in this regard.“
