Roy Burch back for National meet

Commonwealth Games-bound swimmers Roy-Allan Burch and Julian Fletcher will compete in this week’s Validus Bermuda National Swimming Championship.

The meet starts on Thursday, June 5 and runs through Sunday, June 8 at the National Sports Centre. 

Nick Strong, president of BASA, said: “With the new facility at the NSC, we are thrilled to be able to hold this meet in a long course format (50 metre pool). “Significant effort from our numerous parent volunteers in conjunction with Ben Smith (Bermuda National Coach) enabled us to have the meet recognized by FINA, the world governing body of aquatics, as approved for swimmers achieving qualifying times for Youth Olympic Games 2014 and World Championships 2015.

“In spite of receiving the FINA recognition at a late date, we are welcoming double digit numbers of overseas swimmers who can use this meet for qualification purposes.  This is an exciting development that will boost the competition for our swimmers and demonstrates that Bermuda can deliver a meaningful international meet.  We anticipate a successful meet and look forward to enticing more overseas swimmers in the future, further enhancing the island’s credibility and enabling our swimmers more exposure to a higher level of competition.

Burch said: “It’s always a motivation to come back to the island to show how my training is going. This season I have been putting in some extremely hard work, and I am anticipating it paying big dividends in Glasgow. 

Also looking to book their travel to Glasgow are Rebecca Heyliger, Lisa Blackburn and Ashley Yearwood.

The National Swimming Championships represent their last chance before the Commonwealth Team is finalized.

The schedule of the meet is as follows, with more information available on the BASA website www.basa.bm n

Schedule

Thurs June 5 – evening Opening Ceremonies 5:45 pm

Thurs June 5 – evening Timed Finals 6pm

Fri June 6 – evening Heats and 1 Timed Final 6pm

Sat June 7 – morning Heats 8:30am

Sat June 7 – evening Finals 5pm

Sun June 8 – morning Heats 8:30am

Sun June 8 – evening Finals 5pm