I am responsible for booking the venue for our SCY state championship meet in 2012. The location we have been using for the past 10 years is getting too small for us. A new pool has opened up in the area with a lot more seating and deck space. The pool is a 25Y by 50M pool with two bulk heads. For SCY competition, the two bulk heads are used right in the middle of the pool with warmup/cool down lanes on either side of the bulk heads. A couple of issues have been raised concerning the configuration of the pool as it pertains to Masters swimmers and I am hoping to get some opinions on these issues.
1. Bulk head starts - while the pool can be used for SCY swimming from wall to wall, the touch pads and starting system are meant for the bulkhead and the starting system is integrated into the bulkhead. The bulkhead isn't that wide (~6 feet) and some are concerned swimmers will fall off the bulkhead.
2. The other issue is that the bulk heads have "cut outs" above the waterline and some are concerned bad flip turns will result in feet going into these cut outs. They wouldn't get stuck but since the material on the bulk head is a little rough (to prevent slipping) it could result in cuts.
Any thoughts or experiences with running large meets in this type of configuration. I could post some pictures of the pool if that would be of any help.
Thanks,
Brian
Former Member
Our summer league meets last year were mostly held at a pool with that set up. We imposed a strict "one way" system on the bulkhead to reduce overcrowding, so swimmers filed on from the announcer's side of pool and filed off towards the stands. As far as I know we didn't have anyone accidentally fall off the back of the bulkhead.
Thank you every one for all the great ideas and suggestions. I have looked at shifting the bulk heads to the deep end but unfortunately the pool markings (T's and flags) are only setup for long course in that configuration. We have thought about renting the pads and harness for a wall to wall meet but the facilities manager isn't too keen on this. There are blocks in this configuration but they are really only for practice, that and the lane lines are narrow in this config.
I did not know about the measurement requirement so thanks for that information. Also, what are "double pads" and how do they help with rough bulk heads? Currently, the pool lays out towels on the starting bulk head to make it easier for swimmers to exit the pool.
Lastly, love the idea of a one way bulk head. We will stage heats off to one side and only allow a heat at a time on the bulk head with all heats exiting to the other side. Great idea!
Brian
Would the amount of relay swimmers on the bulkhead & timers cause problems???
From memory it was a bit of a squash with 4 swimmers two timers and a couple of others still hanging from the current relay behind one block. Swimmers exiting a relay were "moved along" and everyone carefully shuffled round each other. Depending on the amount of relays and time available, you could always allow one heat to completely exit before lining up the next heat.
