South African Masters Swimming Colours Awards

Preface:

Each year, in about the April - July time frame, FINA publishes a list of the Masters top 10 reported performances in the world (both long and short course) for the previous calendar year. When this occurs SAMS extracts the 10th fastest times from this list and publishes these times in a table which is used by SAMS as a basis for the awarding of SAMS Colours for the new 01 May - 30 April season. If any time is slower than the previously tabled time then the previous time is retained.

Qualifying:

In order to qualify for the award of South African Masters Swimming Colours all of the following 3 criteria must be fulfilled:

1. You must have achieved a time which equals or betters the time in the current SAMS table as described above. This time must have been recorded to 1/100th of a second either by ETD (Electronic Timing Device) or by 3 (three) electronic stopwatches in which case the middle time is used.
2. At the time you achieved the qualifying time you must have been:
   1. a properly registered and paid-up member, for the current season (01 May to 30 April), of a Masters Swimming Club which is affiliated to SAMS
   2. and competing in a Masters Event
   3. and representing the above club in the Gala.
3. You must have competed in a minimum of 3 (or be competing in your 3rd) SAMS Long Course National Championships.

Applying:

If you are swimming in a Masters Gala in South Africa, the task of applying for your SAMS colours is normally completed for you by the gala organizers, but you should check with them to make sure.

If you are swimming in a Masters Gala outside of South Africa, or swimming in a Masters Event in a Non-Masters Gala , you need to do the following:

• If the event was timed using ETD you should either obtain a printout of the result from the organizers or obtain the web address (URL) of the published results.
• If the event was timed using hand held electronic stopwatches you should obtain from the timekeeping officials a document, signed by them, listing the required 3 times with the event details.
• You should submit either of the above together with the Gala and Event details to your Region's Recorder or Secretary. Either of them will forward your submission, along with the form below, to the SAMS Recorder.

This form must be completed and submitted to the SAMS Recorder for ratification of the colours qualification.