Swimming : Why no pure sprint event?

Well James, it certainly wouldn't be for everybody, but isn't what you're describing what elite track & field sprinters do? I fly across the country to race other guys from around the country for 21 seconds. If we got to do another race of 11 seconds, great! Plus, I'd do better! ;) You are right. This is just my personal view on my competitions. I'd prefer to "get my money's worth" out of a competition. Not necessarily only swimming the longest events, but I don't like to travel across the state to do four 50s and a 100 IM either.

I have flown to CA basically to get a fast time in the 50 BR.I swam the other BR events since I was there(and maybe something after the BRs were done,I don't remember.)If they gave TTs and AAs for the 25 BR and I couldn't find a local meet in a fast pool to swim it ,I'd probably go out of state for that too.

For one thing a race ending in the middle of the pool would require a completely different timing setup and this would be way too costly...Then why not have it start in the middle instead of end there? You could run it like Sailing, where part of your race tactics is to hit the starting line at full speed just as the horn sounds. If you cross the start line too early you are DQ’ed.

Then why not have it start in the middle instead of end there? You could run it like Sailing, where part of your race tactics is to hit the starting line at full speed just as the horn sounds. If you cross the start line too early you are DQ’ed. Now that is a cool idea.

Why no pure distance event? The longest track event, the 10K, is almost twice as long as the longest pool swimming event. Because you only need a calendar to time such an event. No need for a meet and touchpads ;) :applaud:

For pools with timing sensors located only at one end of the pool we can have 3 more events, 25's from a push.

Of course there's not a lot of room to tack before the start. :) Also, you'd have to have some sort of "christmas tree" lights underwater like they use in drag racing, so you could time the start.

I could (SARCASM) really see myself sending in meet entries, driving across the state, $$$$ for gas and food and occasionally hotels, or flying across the country to dive in for :10-:11 seconds of racing. Sign me up...:bolt: Well James, it certainly wouldn't be for everybody, but isn't what you're describing what elite track & field sprinters do? I fly across the country to race other guys from around the country for 21 seconds. If we got to do another race of 11 seconds, great! Plus, I'd do better! ;)

Masters should offer 25's and keep 25 records. Let's make it happen. I'd like to see 400's of stroke and an 800 im. There's been a bunch of discussion about this lately. What needs to change is Rule 102.5 in Part 1: Swimming Rules. (additions in green) 102.5 Events 102.5.1 Short Course (25) Yards 25-50-100-200-500-1000-1650 yards freestyle 25-50-100-200-500-1000-1650 yards backstroke 25-50-100-200-500-1000-1650 yards breaststroke 25-50-100-200-500-1000-1650 yards butterfly 100-200-400-800 yards individual medley 200-400-800 yards freestyle relay 200-400-800 yards mixed freestyle relay 200-400 yards medley relay 200-400 yards mixed medley relay 102.5.2 Long Course (50) Meters and Short Course (25) Meters 25*-50-100-200-400-800-1500 meters freestyle 25*-50-100-200-400-800-1500 meters backstroke 25*-50-100-200-400-800-1500 meters breaststroke 25*-50-100-200-400-800-1500 meters butterfly 100*-200-400-800 meters individual medley 200-400-800 meters freestyle relay 200-400-800 meters mixed freestyle relay 200-400 meters medley relay 200-400 meters mixed medley relay *short course meters only Note: For nonconforming events see article 202.1.1F(3). Part 6: Amendment Procedures explains how to go about this: 601.1.5 Rules Committee—Proposed changes to Part 1: Swimming Rules and the Glossary shall be considered by the Rules Committee for report and recommendation to the House of Delegates. 601.2.4 Publication of Proposed Amendments—All proposed changes shall be published and distributed to each LMSC and each member of the House of Delegates not later than August 15. 601.4 Adoption Of Proposed Amendments The USMS Code of Regulations and Rules of Competition may only be altered, amended, repealed or otherwise changed at the annual meeting of the House of Delegates and only as follows: 601.4.1 Rules—In even-numbered years, Part 1 and the Glossary may be amended by a majority vote of the House of Delegates members present and voting if the proposed amendments are submitted to and recommended by the Rules Committee, or by a two-thirds vote of the House of Delegates members present and voting if the proposed amendments are submitted to and NOT recommended by the Rules Committee. So the next window of opportunity to vote on this change is the 2014 Convention. According to the latest minutes, there are some forumites on the Rules Committee. Rules Committee members, how does a change get proposed to the Rules Committee for consideration? Other interesting bits: 102.10.1 Seeding Principles for Masters Competition B Age groups, genders and events of the same distance 200 yards or longer may be combined so that no swimmer has to swim alone and lanes may be filled. Part 2: Administrative Regulations of Competition

So the next window of opportunity to vote on this change is the 2014 Convention. According to the latest minutes, there are some forumites on the Rules Committee. Rules Committee members, how does a change get proposed to the Rules Committee for consideration? I'm not on the Rules Committee but (as chair of Records & Tabulation) I have submitted rule change proposals. One thing to remember is Article 601.2.1: Authorization—Changes to the USMS Code of Regulations and Rules of Competition may be proposed only by an LMSC, a standing committee of the House of Delegates, the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. The most common route for a typical USMS member to get a rule proposed is take it to his/her LMSC Board and have them make the proposal. Of course it would help to build a "base" of support to convince the LMSC officers that this is something that members in their LMSC would want. Deadline for rule change submissions is July 1 if I recall correctly. I should probably point out that it is not completely necessary to propose a rule change to contest events like 25 free or 500 backstroke. Some meets already do this as "non-standard" events. Possibly we could even convince the IT folk to start tracking such non-standard events in our results database so that there could be unofficial "top ten" rankings and records. But this approach maybe won't satisfy some people (maybe most).