According to the mymsc.ca website, the 2014 Canadian Nationals will be May 16-19 (Friday-Monday) in Windsor, Ontario, at the brand-new Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre, aka the Family Aquatic Complex. Windsor is about a half hour's drive from the Detroit airport. I've heard the meet is LCM, though I can't verify it.
I also can't verify the event order! Which events on which days? Apparently it's not published yet? Is it known from experience? Does anyone know for sure or have a guess? Thanks.
... the meet limit is 1,000 swimmers ... would this work in the USA ???
I'm not sure. I think the answer would be either NO! or HELL, NO!
IMO, USMS values participation above all else. I'm on board with that! Everyone who wants to swim should be able to swim! We have qualifying times to cut down the number of splashes, and the sometimes-actually-used option to cut the sixth event. The Canadians do not have qualifying times, and I saw nothing in the meet info suggesting they'd cut an event.
I don't know how many people usually attend the Canadian meet. It could be that the 1000 swimmer limit is rarely if ever reached in Canada.
Interesting that the meet limit is 1,000 swimmers. This is one way to make the meet time line shorter. would this work in the USA ???Again, until we hit a 10,000 swimmer limit, we're not keeping up on a population basis with our northern neighbors if they can fill a 1,000 person National meet.
Registration is open.
http://www.cmsc2014.ca/
Click the link in the upper left corner of the page labelled "Registration". (For some reason, it wasn't obvious to me. Duh.)
Again, until we hit a 10,000 swimmer limit, we're not keeping up on a population basis with our northern neighbors if they can fill a 1,000 person National meet.
It doesn't scale linearly. Especially after Italy a couple summers ago, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has zero interest in attending ultra-huge swim meets where warmup consists of walking on the bottom of the pool and the meet lasts until 10pm or later every night for a week. Personally, I'd attend our zones meet over nationals if nationals even hit 2500 routinely.
Maybe better to compare participation rates in meets generally? Using the USMS events results database, about 29% of members participate in a pool-based meet; the number might rise another 10% or more if OW events were included (at least based on an analysis of the numbers here in VA). What is the participation rate in Canada?
My poor impression of Windsor comes from rude treatment by Canadian border guards (I'm quite accustomed to rude treatment on the return trip). I've crossed into bc, albrta, Ontario and quebec, and windsor was the worst by far. Haven't been back.
