Are Canadian Spring Nationals SCM or LCM?

The BC Masters page says it's SCM: www.msabc.ca/swim-meets.html I'd hardly take that as definitive, but it's the only place I've found where the course is mentioned. I swam Canadian Nationals once a few years ago when it was in Kelowna. It was a much smaller meet than USMS Nationals, but I do think attendance varies based on where the meet is. Since it's in Toronto this year I'm sure it will be a much larger meet, although still probably half the size of US Nationals.

I swam in the meet last year in Montreal. I think there was 500-600 swimmers. It was a very well run fun atmosphere.

The blue muppet and I went in 2014 when it was in Windsor, SCM. Windsor was a great facility: half of it was a brand new Myrtha 70m comp pool with good size locker rooms; the other half is water park (complete with a surf machine) and some other fitness areas. That was really the first time we had a full season and then shaved/tapered, so we swam really well. The Canadians were super friendly and happy to have us there. We made a few friends we still keep in touch with. I think there were about 500 swimmers there, and there were 90 USMS swimmers (mostly from Michigan). That was a fairly small meet for them. With Worlds later that year in Montreal, a lot of swimmers said their teammates were saving up for that trip as their swim trip for the year. Plus, we heard that it was not unusual for the Quebec Masters swimmers (usually a strong number of attendees) not to travel outside of Quebec, which, when combined with Worlds, makes sense that we saw so few of them in Windsor. Like Arthur mentioned, the course is up to the host. In 2014, they ran 2 10-lane SCM courses and had a lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions which was nice for officials and swimmers. I'm sure that may vary by year as host, lane-space and attendance may play a role there. The meet always occurs over Victoria Day weekend for future planning. Given the size of the meet, the competition is thinner than USMS championships. However, consider that they are an organization of 10,000 members, so ~1000 swimmer nationals means 10% of their organization comes! By contrast, only ~3% of USMS membership competes at a USMS Championship meet. The Etobicoke Olympium is a really cool facility - its definitely got some history and I am glad they put some time/money into upgrading it. If I am not mistaken, they replaced the comp tank with a Myrtha one.

Thanks guys. I have heard great things and it's very tempting.

Thanks guys. I have heard great things and it's very tempting.I didn't get to swim in the main pool at Etobicoke when I was there last fall, but my understanding is that it went through an upgrade as they used it for water polo or maybe synchro during Pan Ams.

There is only one national meet a year in Canada that is usually SCM but occasionally it is LCM (up to the host). Canada doesn't have seasons for different courses like in the US. The last couple times it was in BC there has been a limit of 600 people but the limit will be higher for sure in Ontario. I'd expect around 800 to 1100 people. You can see the results and number of swimmers from the last time it was hosted in Etobicoke here: mymsc.ca/ShowMeet.jsp