These will only have Wey Valley swimmers in the event and include Time Trials and Club Championships. Notification will be posted on the website under club diary and/or on the notice board. Often the coach will decide which stroke the swimmer should do and they are encouraged to use these events to gain times in their less favoured strokes or to achieve a qualifying time for a forthcoming event.

For internal events and club records the club uses year of birth ie ‘age as of 31st December’ which means the age your swimmer will be at the end of that year not the age they are on the day of the event.

Each term we aim to run an Internal Novice Gala & Time Trials event and in addition we hold our annual Club Championships in November.

Open meets are hosted by other swimming clubs and take place over a longer period of time than other events - often a whole day or weekend rather than a single evening. They provide great opportunities to compete in a wide range of strokes/distances against swimmers from many other clubs and a chance to get new ‘personal best’ times.

Open meets are graded, with the ‘B/C' or 'Level 2/3' meets designed for swimmers who are developing and are not the fastest in their age group.

Level 2/3: These can have upper and lower qualifying times – swimmers must be faster than the lower limit but slower than the upper limit. This is a good level of competition to start at – assuming your child is not faster than the times published!

Level 1: These are the highest level of meets and only have lower qualification times – i.e. the swimmer must be faster than the entry times shown. These are suitable only for the top swimmers.

Open meets are generally ‘age on the day’, so the age your swimmer will be on the last day of the event. Any swimmer who is age 9 or older can enter open meets provided they meet the entry qualification or consideration time for their age.

Wey Valley swimmers compete in various Open / Invitational Meets.

Throughout the year the club enters teams in galas and leagues at different standards of competition. Swimmers will be selected by the club to swim in these and will be told which event they will be swimming once they have arrived at poolside.

Each Gala and League event takes place in a single evening although there may be more than one round in a League. The races are within age groups (although sometimes only for alternate year groups) against five other, usually local, clubs. The exact number of teams competing depends on the league and the number of lanes at the host pool. For younger swimmers the races are generally 50m (except 25m fly for the youngest age groups) individuals for each stroke, a Medley relay, a Freestyle relay and a Squadron relay. Swimmers may swim up an age group but may not swim down.

The age groups are usually determined as age on the date of the gala or age on the last round of that years League.

We currently compete in the following leagues:

• Thames Water 'C' League
• Premier League
• Junior Cup
• Rother League
• Speedo League

These include events such as County Championships (Surreys), South East Regionals (SER), Nationals.

County Championships are the first major championships a competitive swimmer will encounter. They are held over a series of weekends and are similar in format to the fastest Open Meets in that there are only lower consideration times. The old Surrey County Association ( SCWPSA) is still running the County Championships with the qualification times and results published on their web site under 'Age Group Swimming' They alter a little each year, usually getting faster, but the previous years can be used as a guide.

ASA South East Region BAGCAT Championships are the next level of Championships. Clubs from the South East Region are eligible to enter swimmers for this event if they have achieved regional qualification times which are published along with the results on the South East Region website (SER).

Ages for Championships are usually ‘age on the last day of the meet’.

Our top swimmers take part in the Surrey County Championships.

• Inter Club Galas
• Guildford Junior Schools Gala
• Wey Valley swimmers have competed in the National Schools Biathlon Championships