Report from the Recorder - May 2001


As usual Canadian Masters are having a great season.

We will try and enumerate strengthes and weaknesses.


Performances:

Doing very well. As usual close to 200 national records continue to be set
every year. The membership keeps growing by adding both former good
swimmers and people more attuned to physical conditioning. I seem to
detect however that growth is picking up, especially in BC, Alta and Ontario.
This does not mean that the other provinces are stagnant. However I
perceive the growth in Quebec to be non-satisfactory.


World Records. Among immense competition from US and other swimmers,
Canadians continue to set World Records, especially women. So far this year
(2001), Lynn Marshall of Ontario has set 7 WR's, Eva-Marie Hakansson of
Quebec 1 WR. [Nick Templeman set 2 more at Calgary].


Canadian Records. Several swimmers are setting National Records of an
extremely high quality (Ron Watson, Claus Koch, Cliff Barry and many
more). Catherine Kerr has set an amazing record of 47 seconds for 50 free
as an 80 yr-old master. I would depict  that swim as very inspirational.


Provincial Records. Many people are proudly setting Provincial records, and
that is to be commended because previously these records were not carefully
compiled. Provinces that do a good job of tracking these records should be
commended.

Likewise some clubs are now tracking Club records and that can be a great
motivator as well.

Rankings. The on-line rankings are pretty well up-to-date (but they cannot
always be up-to-date). For instance they now include the Ontario,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and BC provincials, but lack the
Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec provincials even though these are available.

Internet. This new tool continues to be popular. The amount and content of
e-mails that I receive do show that people are interested and keen enough
to enquire as to when the next update will take place etc ... It allows for
discussions among people who could not afford to do so with 'surface mail'.

Real or perceived errors are examined and questioned !


Negatives:

- The FINA age is still not a widely known concept. This means that some
swimmers are not alway slotted in their respective age groups. I have a large
data base of names and dates of birth, but we seem to have hundreds of new
names every year !

- Last year MSC passed a resolution expressing my concerns re Choice events.
However it is as if nothing had been done. I still get as many Choice Events
results with as much wrong stroke reporting as ever.

-We have not resolved what to do about relays set by what I call convenience
clubs. They do carry beautiful names such as Algonquin, Wild Rose and  even
MSABC, but I still maintain they should be restricted. Very restricted
actually.

On balance, the Masters movement in Canada is I think very healthy and
should continue growing in popularity, membership and general awareness
among the general population.


                                            Christian Berger
                                            National Recorder
                                            May 2001