if the USMS held the Inaugural 25K Championship where
"For the past three years, several USMS swimmers have asked for a 25K open water event. This year, they finally got their wish and 45 solo swimmers signed up for this inaugural event. Twenty-six five-person relay teams (five swimmers, each swimming 5K), totaling 130 swimmers, rounded out the mix."
what's it gonna take to get 25's added to the list of events USMS recognizes?
Imagine how fun they would be?
why not bring back where we all started
like summer league 25's
Does anyone else out there wish for usms to offer and recognize 25?
Maybe if enough of us wish for 25's to be added
it will one day come true
Sign the cyber petition
Dear USMS,
YES I want USMS to offer 25's
sanction them at SC Nats and SCM meets
keep records and a yearly top 10s
Ande Rasmussen
Anyone else?
why can't they be innovative and fun enough to offer 25's at meets?
I'd rather go to a backstroke flip-turn clinic by Stud than suffer through watching adults swim 25s.
GMU has blocks on a bulkhead that head towards the starting end.
hell, then why stop at 25's? keep rolling that bulkhead until said participants can dive across without getting wet!
There are two constraints when conducting 25's. They aren't insurmountable, but are relevant:
1. When you have a pool with touchpads on both ends, the pool has to be measured for touchpads on both ends. Some pools aren't long enough to have touchpads on both ends (i.e., a pool could be just long enough with one set of touchpads, but becomes too short with a second set of touchpads).
2. If you opt for one set of touchpads, and make the reasonable choice of leaving them at the same end throughout the meet (not only is it a pain to move them, but all sorts of things can go wrong when you do so), the shallow end of the pool may tbe too shallow to dive in from blocks (or there may be no blocks); you may need to dive in from the deck or start from in the pool.
For me personally, I wouldn't be overjoyed for a 25 (I'm ridiculously slow at the start), and in many ways I'm still overwhelmed by the selection of events in Masters meets in comparison to when I was younger in USA Swimming. But that certainly doesn't mean that other people might not enjoy them.
As Rob noted, just because 25's and 4x25 relays aren't recognized events, it doesn't mean meets can't offer them. And I think in the end, if there's a desire to get them "officially" into the rulebook, that's the best way to do it--get meet directors to offer them at meets, get swimmers used to seeing them at meets, and then that will eventually bring consensus if done correctly.
And after all, if we can do 25's for 8 & unders (or whatever age), there's no reason we can't do 25's for everyone.
Patrick King
I can't imagine feeling any sort of pain in such a short race. Why swim it?
:D You really have to wonder about a sport that produces this kind of mentality, even if it was a joke. Especially since I found myself nodding in agreement!
You should come up to DC in October. The GMU Patriot Masters Sprint Classic features unsanctioned 25s at the conclusion of the meet. We'll have to check with the meet director, but it seems to me that a large portion of the meet attendees participate. Swim all four to be considered for the fastest man and woman award. Two forumites, Fortress and Warren, won last year.
As a meet director person... in many pools, 25's are a nightmare. It means you either need to get touchpads working at the turn end, or get starting blocks and speakers and starting system working at the turn end. In big masters meets with lots of other things to go wrong, I'm not looking for more things that could go wrong. :-)
-Rick
Hilarious. My first thought when I read the first entry on this thread was, "what a freakin' headache for Rick"
Were the pads plugged in at the turn side? I.e., were you getting 25 yard/meter splits on all races?
Also, with respect to converting the turning judges into timers... yikes! How many turning judges do you have? We usually have two timers per lane, but we're lucky to get two stroke/turn judges on each end for most meets.
-Rick
no, we don't always get the splits in a 25m pool, but having the touch pads in makes the walls the same. I thought it was funny at first, but I think I remember someone telling me they were required on both ends for records to be counted. however in a 50m pool we always get the 50 splits.
as far as officials go, we almost always have:
the double timing system in the pads, and a timer taking the third time.
each lane has a turning judge at the opposite end, in the 800 and 1500 the turning judges also hold the lap counter
the timers double as a turning judge.
then two side judges
a main judge
a starter.
