Swim Wales has announced the launch of a new virtual competitive opportunity for its swimmers, with more details comong on October 1st.
The first-ever virtual Swim Wales Super Series will be open to all Swim Wales athletes from age groupers to Masters to Para swimmers, minus the travel and access issues inherent in today’s coronavirus pandemic world.
Lydia Gyngell, National Events and Volunteers Manager at Swim Wales, says, “We know that our swimmers have missed events this year whether that be club galas, regional events or one of our 8 annual events at our home at the National Pool in Swansea. We miss it too! We miss the build-up and excitement surrounding those events and we want to bring a little bit of that back to the thousands of swimmers across Wales.
“The challenges we currently face across the UK have meant that events as we know them are just not permitted by government at this time. But this hasn’t stopped the events team at Swim Wales, we see this as a chance to innovate and create exciting new opportunities that are accessible to all, inclusive and SAFE for everyone to enjoy.
Additionally, she says, “We see this as is an opportunity to re-introduce training goals, for coaches and swimmers alike to see those ‘lockdown gains’, how dry-land training helped boost performance and maybe even see a few PB’s in Olympic year!”
As of Setpember 21st, 69% of Swim Wales clubs have returned to the water after coronaviruslockdown, a statistic with Wales Performance Director Ross Nicholas says is promising. “It is very encouraging to see an increasing number of aquatic clubs returning to activity over recent weeks. The club committee’s and coaches across Wales have done an incredible job designing protocols and programmes that adhere to the Swim Wales Return to Water Guidance and Welsh Government regulations to provide safe, supportive and functional training environments for their members.
“We would also like to commend the work of the facility operators for their pro-active support to aquatic clubs across Wales to enable their return to training, and this has shown outstanding collaboration and togetherness as an aquatic community at this challenging time”
Details on the inaugural competition series will be rolling out beginning October 1st.