BARRHEAD - Just how long is 200 metres?
Several Barrhead Swim Club members know exactly how long it is after successfully participating in the club's annual March 18 Swim-a-thon.
The Barrhead Swim Club is a competitive club boasting 35 members ranging from seven to 17 years old. It is the club's sixth season since rebooting after rebooting following the construction of the new aquatics centre.
The Swim-a-thon, a Swim Alberta and club fundraiser, sees individual swimmers collect pledges to see how many 200 laps (the equivalent of five kilometres) they can complete in two hours. This year, 33 members participated in the event, with nine completing the laps and several others coming close. In total, Barrhead Swim Club members completed 4,898 lengths or the equivalent of 122.45 kilometres.
Head coach Kylee Meunier said she was so proud of the performance of all her swimmers.
"It is the first year for several of our swimmers, and many of them completed 112 lengths [or 2.8 kilometres]," she said. "When you think about it, that is how much they would have swam in two weeks' worth of practices in two hours or, in a lot of cases, even less, and that is just awesome."
Meunier said the club has been busy in the New Year, adding that their swimmers have participated in multiple meets, the most recent being in Red Deer in early February.
"The kids struggled a bit," she said, adding that swimmers were not used to the pool's configuration.
The Catalina Swim Club hosted the meet at the Roland Michener Aquatic Centre.
"They did the best they could, but the pool was a lot more shallow than they are used to, and that had a big impact in some of their times," Meunier said.
Kyler Demski, 13, swam in the provincial championship trials in early March.
"Unfortunately, he was sick, so he did not perform at his best," she said.
The swim season is nearing its end, and the club is gearing up for the last swim meet in Edson on April 6 and 7.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
