WILTSHIRE MOONRAKER LEAGUE

Gala dates can be found on the Club Calendar

Pre-pandemic Wiltshire operated a summer league (mixture of relays and individual events) and a winter league (all relays).  Chippenham competed in these leagues for many years with considerable success.

In the summer of 2023 Wiltshire held a pilot league event at the Hengrove pool in Bristol.  This consisted of two galas, back-to-back, with the majority of Wiltshire club participating.  These two galas were a mixture of relays and individual events, in an attempt to combine the best of the old summer and winter league formats. 

Following this successful pilot, Wiltshire Moonraker League will return for the 2023-2024 season.  There will be 3 rounds culminating in a final at Hengrove in the summer.  The first round will be early in the season (September/October).  Round 2 will be a virtual gala in October/November with Round 3 in March 2024.  The finals gala, to be held in June 2024, will be licensed with individual times going to Rankings and tying in with the Wiltshire County qualifying window.  On the finals day, there will be two galas, held back-to-back, with allocation as a result of the cumulative points total from the first 3 rounds.  Points are awarded on times from all teams i.e. if there are 17 teams then 1st place will be awarded 17 points, 2nd place will be awarded 16 points and so on.  Wiltshire clubs with the most points will swim in the second gala on the finals day, the other teams will swim in the first gala.

Points will be awarded on swim times so the placings on the night of each round are purely a bit of fun.  Swimmers are in effect racing against every other participating club in Wiltshire not just those in the same pool on that night. To accommodate all participating Wiltshire club each round will be held at 3 different pools around the County.

 

For those of you new to competitive swimming, or need a reminder, the following events will be included in the League programme:

Individual events - where a single swimmer from each club swims the same stroke and distance.

Mixed relays - when 2 male and 2 female swimmers from each club compete in relay, all swimming the same stroke.  These are in age groups, so 9/10 years then another race for the 11/12 years and so on. 

Mixed medley relays – when 2 male and 2 female swimmers from each club compete in relay, swimming in medley order (backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly then freestyle).  These are in age groups so, there will be a medley relay for 9/10 years, then another race for 11/12 years, then 13/14 years and finally medley for 15 and overs. 

Mixed squadron relay - a swimmer from each age group (swimming youngest to oldest) with a male and female from each age group i.e. 9/10 years male and female together with 11/12 years male and female (so 4 swimmers) in a squadron all swimming the same stroke.  There are two age groups for the squadrons 9/10 swimming with 11/12 and then 13/14 swimming with 15/over.

Mixed Freestyle cannon relay - both galas finish with a mixed freestyle cannon relay.  This is where there are 8 swimmers in the relay for each club (swimming youngest to oldest) with a male and female in each age group all swimming freestyle which is an exciting climax to the gala. 

Squad selection is made by Club Coaches. Age Groups are:9/10 years; 11/12 years; 13/14 years and 15&Over.  Gala take place in 25m pools in the local area.  Team selection is on a gala-by-gala basis.  Selection by the Head Coach to represent Chippenham ASC is a high honour.  Once the swimmer attends their first gala they are presented with a blue CASC hat.  Only gala squad members are entitled to wear blue hats.  Once selected for the gala squad swimmers are expected to make themselves available for future galas if selected.

 CASC results can be found at Results - Moonraker League


events, league, summer, winter