On Saturday 17 October Lincoln Vulcans Swimming Club staged their highly anticipated 2009 Level 1 Long Course Open Meet at the superb 50m International pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

As one of the first high level Open Meets of the new swimming season, the LVSC Open provides one of the first opportunities for swimmers to chase qualifying times for next year's Regional and National championships. The LVSC Open Meet is proving increasingly popular each year - with many swimmers travelling considerable distances to compete.

The timing is not accidental as the LVSC Open Meet is held every year the day before the British Gas ASA National County Team Championships when teams of swimmers from the 39 Counties of Great Britain converge on Sheffield.  The LVSC Open Meet's popularity is due in no small part to many high calibre swimmers arriving a day early to compete in preparation for the next day’s impressive National competition.

This year's Open Meet drew competition from some of the best young swimmers in the country from as far away as Guernsey.  Loughborough University also targeted the meet this year sending a large contingent to compete.

In total 660 swimmers took part in over 2100 swims with 70 individual clubs represented at the meet.

In fact the LVSC L1 Open Meet proved so popular that some 845 entries were unfortunately rejected due to time constraints. Had all of the entries been included, the meet would have lasted an extra 5 1/2 hours of swimming!

Each of the 3 sessions required 26 officials on poolside and the meet was further supported by another 25 volunteers who gamely braved the heat and humidity to help with race cards, drinks and general organisation. As always the club would like to thank all of those who helped make the Open Meet such a success for the many swimmers taking part.

The 20 strong swimmer contingent from Vulcans itself took home 44 medals and this year the LVSC Open meet brought an enviable haul of 16 National Qualifying Times for Head Coach Fred Furniss's swimmers Mollie Temple, Sophie Allen, Jack Burnell, Oliver Bitowt, Alex Manley, Lauren Freeman and Oliver Richmond.

Fred Furniss commented:

 The club Level 1 Meet is placed perfectly in the early racing calendar for us to assess how well our training is progressing.  It also serves to establish a set of revised times for this year against which our athletes can improve.  The fact that the swimmers secured 16 National Qualifying Times demonstrates that we are on track to take our biggest number of swimmers to the National Championships in July 2010

 Club Chairman, David Hendel also reflected on a very successful event:

The club open meet has now established itself as one of the best meets in the early swimming calendar.  The timing of the event and the standard of competition make it a must-attend event in many club’s competitive race calendars. This year our swimmers have done really well and I congratulate them on their achievements.

The success of the LVSC Open Meet highlights the strong commitment, organisation and talent within the club as they continue to develop the swimming club's profile on a national stage.

Club Vice Chairman, Bruce Kelsey believes that there may also be wider commercial benefits to be gained from the success of the club and its flagship open event

Lincoln Vulcan’s exists, almost entirely, upon the money it generates from staging events and from membership and training fees.  The success of the Level One open meet last weekend is tailor made for companies and businesses to demonstrate their support for our county athletes whilst also increasing the national profile of their own companies and businesses.

The club is always very willing to discuss opportunities for single event or longer term sponsorship packages which will help us become even more successful and also help to support the ongoing success of our business community.

We are staging a Level 3 meet at the end of November at the Meres Leisure Centre in Grantham and would be very interested in hearing from local businesses which may be interested in getting involved in sponsorship.

If you are interested in discussing sponsorship opportunities with Lincoln Vulcan’s please contact the Club Chairman via the Lincoln Vulcan’s website in the first instance.

Lincoln Vulcans is a Swim 21 performance club which welcomes swimmers who wish to develop their competitive swimming abilities. A progressive training programme based upon the ASA Long Term Athlete Development framework underpins the ethos of the club.  For further details about the club, please visit the website – www.lvsc.co.uk