Bethan's write up of NASL Round 1

Post date: Oct 14, 2013 8:16:33 PM

Arena League

On Saturday 12th October Didcot Barramundi competed in first round of The National Arena Swimming League 2013. This is Barramundi’s first year in The Arena League which is a national competition between 392 swimming clubs based in England and Wales.

Arena League galas work by each club having one lane to swim in. For every event clubs put forward one swimmer in the categories; 9/11 years age group, under 13s, under 15s and Ladies/Men open. Then these swimmers simply race each other and are placed one to eight in their age group, with first place receiving 8 points, 2nd 7 points and so on till you reach eighth place who gains 1 point. But if a swimmer was to be disqualified, no matter where they placed, they would receive no points. The points these swimmers individually earn are then carried back to their clubs to create an overall club score. The club with the highest overall score then has a better chance in the next round.

Along with individual events the Arena League hosts a range of relays where groups of swimmers from each club race one another to win points in the same system as above. These relays included the 4x50m Freestyle relay, 4x50 Individual Medley relay and 6x50 Freestyle relay. As previously the points won in these relays are added to the overall club score.

Didcot Barramundi’s first round was against Guildford City C Team, Alton & District SC, Basingstoke Bluefins B team, West Wight SC, Worthing SC, Chichester Cormorants SC and Andover SC. Many of these clubs had swum in the league before but throughout the first stages of the gala we crept into second place to Guildford City leading. As the competition proceeded however Guildford leapt ahead and as the last event closed the gala they still had a strong lead over Barramundi. But Barramundi did succeed in holding onto second place which was an amazing effort for our first Arena League gala, and meant we had placed ahead of the other six clubs.

Overall Didcot had an exciting and successful first gala in The Arena League which is a new challenge we are tackling together as a club. It’s galas like these where everyone counts as there was just an 11 point difference between Barramundi and Alton & District who we narrowly beat to second. Finally, on behalf of the Club, I’d like to thank the organisers of The Arena League as well as all the other clubs who made us feel welcome and of course to all our swimmers who competed so well to achieve all we have accomplished. But to finished I’d just like to look back on what I said just weeks ago after BBAT and close on the fact, once again Didcot Barramundi has surpassed all believed of them and exceeded my very high expectations.

Well Done Barramundi and Good Luck or Round Two.