The 2017 Canadian Masters Swimming Championships
This post was delayed as I gave time for reader submissions of photos. It is my hope that I did not linger too long.
It's a funny thing. One would expect this post to mainly be about the actual swim. But most of it is not. It's more about the experience.... and these guys.
Nationals was held in Quebec City which is no small drive. This is the gang from the Mavericks that was able to make the journey.
We drove together
Ate together
Swam together
and goofed around together.
Kind of a "fun and friendship, health and wellness, participation and achievement" type thing. Let it be said that I treasure this gang and they are very dear to me.
Okay - lets talk about the swim. The venue was the "PEPS" pool at Laval University. If there is one thing that can be said about this facility is that they are a firm believer in stairs. STAIRS EVERYWHERE! The pool was great... the warm up pool... meh.... and the deck space was poor. You can't win them all.
My teammates all swam very well with everyone getting a medal and many personal bests. I once again did the misery tour and also once again swam 800 free as IM. Just because.
There. The swim is out of the way.
Part of the wonder of this trip was Quebec City itself. We stayed an extra day just to see some of the stuff. I really was not up to speed on the history of it all as I took that class in French *and failed* but we were able to see a presentation that brought it all to life. Fascinating stuff. I said to one teammate as we walked the streets "You can almost imagine it.... way back when".
Probably my favorite thing to see (besides all the poutine shops) was the Montmorency Falls. Much fun was had on this leg of the trip.
As most of you know we have had our fair share of rain this spring. As a result this waterfall is in full force and is much more swollen than usual.
I decided I wanted more....Greg and Dianne had enough sense to retreat. I felt like I was at Helm's Deep or something.
Poor Erin is trying to get a picture of me on that flight of stairs. Here was my experience.... the force of the wind and mist coming off of that waterfall while I was on those stairs was almost enough to blow me off. The water was ice cold and I was drenched through and through before I made the top of the stairs.
Oh look.... MORE stairs.... with my jeans being drenched and weighing about 972 pounds.
On a serious note - there were some shenanigans that need to be addressed. Frankly I don't care what side of the debate you are on the situation is silly and out of hand and is making everyone crazy. MSO has issues with MSC, SO, and SC. I don't know them all or understand everything. There are those who do and will give you the ear full if you want to know it. Here is what I know.... Ontario clubs were not known by their names. They were given a generic SCCM with a numeric identifier at the end. I believe our club was known as SCCM1040 or some such nonsense. I in fact asked about this prior to registration because I had a sense this would be a mess. On the second day of competition we were given a letter with our heat sheets.
First of all... what does A have to do with B in this letter. Nothing. It is a jab and a slap at the same time. I don't care who pissed in whose corn flakes - this is nonsense. Let us remember that Masters Swimming in Canada came first through Ontario. Technosport out of Ottawa was once again the top team at Nationals but the banner went to another team (not from Ontario of course). As team #2 do you really want the banner? SC currently has the upper hand because the FINA Masters World Championships are this summer and many people from Ontario have intentions of participating. With the mess we are in now we sort of had to take what we can get. If I had the tools to get involved and participate in the reparations I would.... but it is completely out of my scope. Who will get involved? Who will fix this? When did Masters Swimming become a money grab? What happened to "fun and friendship, health and wellness, participation and achievement"?
As this was clearly not the statement being made by the three governing bodies opposing MSO.... it is in part mine. Have a look at Ontario Masters Swimmers doing the part of Masters Swimming that has nothing or little to do with swimming.
Unlike age group swimming.... winning isn't everything to us as Masters Swimmers. Being a part of something is SO much more of what it is to us. If it becomes something that we don't want to be a part of then we will walk away and find something else to do. As a wise friend from the Barrie club said.... "There are other things". I don't want it to go that way. Look at these faces above. I wouldn't trade this in.
As a member of my team who has yet to compete said "Looks like a fun time had by all! If this is what "swim meets" are like I may just consider going for the shenanigans." That - ladies and gentlemen - is the right set of tracks to go down.
Until I touch the wall.....
Michael Kenny
Masters Swimmer
Cambridge Mavericks
Marathon Open Water Swimmer
2015-16 Global Swim Series Champion
It's a funny thing. One would expect this post to mainly be about the actual swim. But most of it is not. It's more about the experience.... and these guys.
Nationals was held in Quebec City which is no small drive. This is the gang from the Mavericks that was able to make the journey.
We drove together
Ate together
Swam together
and goofed around together.
Kind of a "fun and friendship, health and wellness, participation and achievement" type thing. Let it be said that I treasure this gang and they are very dear to me.
Okay - lets talk about the swim. The venue was the "PEPS" pool at Laval University. If there is one thing that can be said about this facility is that they are a firm believer in stairs. STAIRS EVERYWHERE! The pool was great... the warm up pool... meh.... and the deck space was poor. You can't win them all.
My teammates all swam very well with everyone getting a medal and many personal bests. I once again did the misery tour and also once again swam 800 free as IM. Just because.
There. The swim is out of the way.
Part of the wonder of this trip was Quebec City itself. We stayed an extra day just to see some of the stuff. I really was not up to speed on the history of it all as I took that class in French *and failed* but we were able to see a presentation that brought it all to life. Fascinating stuff. I said to one teammate as we walked the streets "You can almost imagine it.... way back when".
Probably my favorite thing to see (besides all the poutine shops) was the Montmorency Falls. Much fun was had on this leg of the trip.
As most of you know we have had our fair share of rain this spring. As a result this waterfall is in full force and is much more swollen than usual.
I decided I wanted more....Greg and Dianne had enough sense to retreat. I felt like I was at Helm's Deep or something.
Poor Erin is trying to get a picture of me on that flight of stairs. Here was my experience.... the force of the wind and mist coming off of that waterfall while I was on those stairs was almost enough to blow me off. The water was ice cold and I was drenched through and through before I made the top of the stairs.
Oh look.... MORE stairs.... with my jeans being drenched and weighing about 972 pounds.
On a serious note - there were some shenanigans that need to be addressed. Frankly I don't care what side of the debate you are on the situation is silly and out of hand and is making everyone crazy. MSO has issues with MSC, SO, and SC. I don't know them all or understand everything. There are those who do and will give you the ear full if you want to know it. Here is what I know.... Ontario clubs were not known by their names. They were given a generic SCCM with a numeric identifier at the end. I believe our club was known as SCCM1040 or some such nonsense. I in fact asked about this prior to registration because I had a sense this would be a mess. On the second day of competition we were given a letter with our heat sheets.
First of all... what does A have to do with B in this letter. Nothing. It is a jab and a slap at the same time. I don't care who pissed in whose corn flakes - this is nonsense. Let us remember that Masters Swimming in Canada came first through Ontario. Technosport out of Ottawa was once again the top team at Nationals but the banner went to another team (not from Ontario of course). As team #2 do you really want the banner? SC currently has the upper hand because the FINA Masters World Championships are this summer and many people from Ontario have intentions of participating. With the mess we are in now we sort of had to take what we can get. If I had the tools to get involved and participate in the reparations I would.... but it is completely out of my scope. Who will get involved? Who will fix this? When did Masters Swimming become a money grab? What happened to "fun and friendship, health and wellness, participation and achievement"?
As this was clearly not the statement being made by the three governing bodies opposing MSO.... it is in part mine. Have a look at Ontario Masters Swimmers doing the part of Masters Swimming that has nothing or little to do with swimming.
Unlike age group swimming.... winning isn't everything to us as Masters Swimmers. Being a part of something is SO much more of what it is to us. If it becomes something that we don't want to be a part of then we will walk away and find something else to do. As a wise friend from the Barrie club said.... "There are other things". I don't want it to go that way. Look at these faces above. I wouldn't trade this in.
As a member of my team who has yet to compete said "Looks like a fun time had by all! If this is what "swim meets" are like I may just consider going for the shenanigans." That - ladies and gentlemen - is the right set of tracks to go down.
Until I touch the wall.....
Michael Kenny
Masters Swimmer
Cambridge Mavericks
Marathon Open Water Swimmer
2015-16 Global Swim Series Champion