A promising young swimmer who had travelled from Dubai for a Welsh swimming competition was left "absolutely gutted" after it was cancelled on the day of the event. Cian George, 16, had spent a day travelling from Dubai with his father Alex to compete in the Swim Wales National Championships.
The event was originally due to be held at the Wales International Pool in Swansea but had been changed to Cardiff International Pool after "unforeseen issues" with a mechanical fault. But after Cian and other competitors had arrived at the pool Swim Wales announced that they had been "forced to postpone the meet" due to a mechanical fault at the Cardiff Pool.
"We were absolutely gutted," Alex said. "The swimmers clearly had trained but they [also] have to go through 'tapering' in the run-up to a competition where the training becomes very focused for the days they're swimming. His diet changed for the last three weeks to build for the competition. He's done five weeks of tapering for nothing."
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Cian, who swims with Hamilton Aquatics back in Dubai, had also forgone swimming in the Irish Nationals a week before, choosing to swim in Wales instead. Holding both Welsh and Irish nationality, Cian, who has been competing for 12 years, told his father that he wanted to compete in Wales this year as he wants to study at university here in the future. "He didn't go to the Irish [Nationals] a week and a half ago, simply because he wanted to be fresh for the Welsh [Nationals] to make an impression," Alex said.
Alex, 55, said they had spent a day travelling from Dubai to the UK and that tickets cost approximately £1,500 each. While they were still in Dubai Alex said they were notified by Swim Wales about the change of venue from Swansea to Cardiff. In a statement posted on their website, Swim Wales announced the venue change on April 4, saying the venue had been switched to Swansea due to a mechanical fault with the pool's moveable ‘boom and floor' which splits the pool into two sections.
"We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused by this venue change, but as the competition acts as a key qualifier for future events, including the British Swimming Summer Championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games, we made the decision to relocate the meet to Cardiff," a statement at the time said. "All participants registered to take part in the event will receive an email notifying them of the change with further information about the updated Swim Wales National Championships 2023."
For Alex and Cian, the change wasn't an issue. Alex said: "We thought, 'That's really not a problem,' because, like every good organisation, there's a back up plan. So Cardiff [was] not a problem at all." However, Alex claims that he and Cian went to the Cardiff pool for a swim the day before the competition on April 12 at around midday and that there were "divers in the water trying to fix the boom then."
On the night of Wednesday, April 12, the night before the competition, Swim Wales released a statement saying that the Cardiff International Pool had a "mechanical fault" that meant the competition would have to be held in a 25 metre, rather than a 50 metre, pool.
Swim Wales said they were notified of an issue with the moveable ‘boom and floor’ in Cardiff at around 6.30pm but were assured they could run the event short course, deciding that this was the best course of action so swimmers could compete. The organisation added that coaches would meet at 7.45am the following morning to further explain the situation.
Cian and his father arrived at the pool for a warm-up session on the day of the competition, which was scheduled to take place between 8am and 9am. "All of the swimmers were in the stands, milling around. Everybody's confused why the session didn't start at 8am and then at about 8.30-8.45am they announced that the event would be cancelled due to an issue with the boom." Alex said that "hundreds" of people had turned up for the four-day event.
"The young gentleman who made the announcement was very apologetic. But, there were a number of others floating around [saying], 'These things happen.' It's almost like an amateur set-up, not professionally run at all," he added. Swim Wales has said that they will refund entry fees and spectator tickets and are looking for alternative opportunities for swimmers to compete at a Level 1 Long Course licensed meet within the qualification window for the British Swimming Summer Championships and the Swim Wales Summer Open.
Swim Wales said Cardiff International Pool notified them of a further fault with the boom which caused one end to dip below the surface of the water. They said that this contravened World Aquatics rules and posed a significant safety risk to participants, leaving them no option but to cancel the event.
"Most organisations you would expect to have insurance in place that, should they fail to deliver on the committed venue, that there is compensation," Alex said, adding that those at the event had travelled from "all over the UK" including Welsh swimmers from north Wales.
While Alex and Cian had not needed to book accommodation, staying instead with Alex's parents near Bridgend, other swimmers at the competition had needed to do so. "These people had previously booked in Swansea, lost their deposits in Swansea and had to re-book for Cardiff and then lost their deposits there as well," he said.
Indeed, some who had travelled from north Wales left comments under a Facebook post from Swim Wales announcing the postponement of the event. One read: "We can’t afford to travel from North Wales again! We have already lost Swansea hotel and now Cardiff. An organisation of this size needs to compensate families!" Another wrote: "Unfortunately for those that have travelled and paid out for accommodation from the North it will be really difficult for us to be able to afford to come back down for a rescheduled meet."
Alex said Cian was keen to discuss opportunities with universities in Wales at the meet. "He's so disappointed that he didn't get that chance to A) swim and B) talk to people in the clubs to say, 'I'm looking to come in shortly, tell me more.'" Cian trains six days a week, training twice on three of those days. Each swimming session is two hours, his dad said.
"There must be a huge amount of frustration from other swimmers and other clubs who travelled in. North Walians have lost Swansea hotels, Cardiff hotels, plus travel expenses down, time off work for parents as well," Alex claimed, adding that he booked a week of annual leave to travel to the competition.
Under conditions listed in the Swim Wales 'Meet Pack' for the competition, the organisation advises attendees to book flexible or refundable travel and accommodation arrangements, adding that Swim Wales is "not responsible for accommodation/travel and other related costs incurred as a result of event cancellation/venue changes." It adds that refunds will only be given for entry fees and spectator tickets.
A spokesperson for Swim Wales said: "Swim Wales sympathises deeply with everyone who was affected by the postponement of the Swim Wales National Championships 2023. We are hugely disappointed by this outcome after working tirelessly over the last two weeks to relocate the meet to the Cardiff, only to face the same issues with the facilities. It will have taken athletes countless hours of training in the pool and huge sacrifices from supporters to make it to the National Championships. We empathise with all those affected and share in their disappointment.
"We are now exploring alternative opportunities for swimmers to compete at a Level 1 Long Course licensed meet within the qualification window for the British Swimming Summer Championships and the Swim Wales Summer Open and hope to update our members in the coming days.
"The process of refunding all entry fees, spectator tickets and poolside passes has begun. All refunds will be processed within seven working days. In the competition Meet Pack, we recommend attendees to book flexible or refundable accommodation and travel arrangements due to the possibility of event cancellation or venue changes.
"As detailed in our Meet Entry conditions, Swim Wales is not responsible for accommodation, travel and other related costs incurred as a result of event cancellation or venue changes. We cannot stress how disappointed we are for all those affected, and we would like to thank the Welsh aquatics community for their understanding during what has been a difficult period."
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