It’s great to announce that we had one of the busiest national galas in years take place at Aylestone Leisure Centre near Leicester. Around 60 swimmers took to the pool for an evening of both competitive an ‘have a go’ swimming. That’s the real attraction of the BN Gala. Nobody is expected to be the next Olympian and whilst it’s hard not to notice there are some are better swimmers than others - it’s about taking part, having fun and challenging yourself.
It’s all official - British Naturism are Members of Swim England and the gala is swum under international rules and under the watchful eye of no less than twelve referees and officials. In fact we had five Olympic referees at the gala this year! There is great team spirit and it really isn’t about just coming first, we had members who had never ever swam in a race in their lives – one guy had never even done a length before! As usual there were medals galore and loads of beaming smiles. There was a good representation of members too, across the majority of age categories – it would be lovely for future events to see more YBN and families attend but they were represented even if in the minority.
One of the benefits of competing in the gala is that it makes you eligible to put your name forward for Team GB, well, Naturist Team GB – who will be travelling to Paris in October to represent BN on the international stage (or starting blocks!) at the INF Gala. It’s an awesome thing to be able to say that you are in representing your country and heading overseas to a tournament. Well done to everyone who took part - see you in Paris!