Inaugural Festival of Swimming labelled a 'great success'

The Festival of Swimming has been labelled ‘a great success’ after thousands of swimmers participated in events held across the country.

The Swim England regions hosted competitions that welcomed club swimmers to what was, for many of them, their first racing opportunity since 2020.

More than 6,500 swimmers took part in the festival which was the first of its kind.

Wycombe Leisure Centre, K2 Crawley, Plymouth Life Centre, Millfield Swimming Pool, London Aquatics Centre and Norwich SportsPark played hosted to the competition across the South East, South West, London and East regions.

Across the rest of England, Sunderland Aquatics Centre, Ponds Forge, The Alan Higgs Centre, Harvey Hadden and Manchester Aquatics Centre welcomed swimmers to their pools once again in North East, West Midlands, East Midlands and North West Regions.

‘Want to reiterate our thanks’

Tom Baster, chair of the Swim England Swimming Leadership Group, said: “Given the challenges posed by Covid-19, we are delighted with how the Festival of Swimming unfolded and want to reiterate our thanks to the regions that made it possible.

“This event marked the return to competition for thousands of athletes across the country after what has been a more than challenging 18 months.

“Swim England regions and staff worked collaboratively to ensure that racing opportunities were available a matter of days after social distancing measures were removed by the UK government. It was a great team effort.

“I would also like to congratulate our friends at Swim Wales and Scottish Swimming for the successful staging of their respective festival meets.

“To witness racing again was truly special and we hope that the athletes, coaches and officials and volunteers involved immersed themselves in the experience and enjoyed it.

“Everyone involved should be proud of their achievements and take confidence from it moving forward into next season.”

The Festival of Swimming leaderboards can be viewed here and the full set of results here.