I was pleased to compete at the XIII FINA 2010 World Masters championships held in Göteborg, Sweden during the end of July – early August period. Göteborg is an old Hanseatic town built at the mouth of the Göta River, and became a City in 1621. It is a major port for Sweden and part of its early wealth related to trade with the Orient. The old city had a wall, moat and shooting plain, a park like space which was kept clear of buildings to prevent enemies approaching the fortifications unseen. Other than a few sections, the old wall has been removed, the moat retained and the shooting plain has become a park that circles the old city. The old town is about 12 blocks by 12 blocks in size, and includes the old harbour and many squares.

The city has many canals, including the moat, that are similar to Amsterdam (Dutch engineers were brought in to build the canals). The buildings, many five to seven stories, are similar in scale to Paris.

The event was well-organized: for example, at the airport there was a double decker coach bus to take competitors downtown to the Valhallabadet sports complex for processing. Competitors were photographed and given ID to be used for access to the various venues as well as providing unlimited travel on public transit over the duration of the event. The Valhalla complex has one 50m 10-lane pool, and an adjacent 8-lane, 25m warm-up pool (this pool was used for diving competition in the evenings).

The other swimming pool, Lundbybadet, is located on the north side of the Göta Älv (the large river that runs through Göteborg) and consists of an outdoor 50m, 8-lane pool and an adjacent 25m, 6-lane indoor pool which was used for warm-up. The warm-up pools were typically quite congested and not conducive to any structured sets.

As there were 5,000+ swimmers (not including diving, synchro, waterpolo and open water participants), it was necessary to alternate men and women between the two complexes. The only time all swimmers were together in the same pool (Valhalla) was in the middle of the week for the relays. I swam both the 800 free and the 50 fly in the Lundby pool and the 100 fly in the Valhalla pool.

To give an indication of the large number of swimmers, the 800 free was the only event for the first day of the Worlds. Unlike most swim meets where heats are ordered by age and time, swimmers in this distance event were seeded according to time only. Thus, it was common to have a range of ages in each 800 heat. In my heat, for example, there were three swimmers in the 50-54 group. It was an exciting finish as a Spanish swimmer went out in a 1:17 compared to my 1:23 but as I kept a fairly steady pace ended up out-touching him by only four one hundredths of a second with an 11:42.38 vs. 11:42.42. In a later heat, the only other swimmer from Canada in this age group, Ralph Rieper, finished with a time of 11:42.80. I placed 27th and Ralph placed 30th.

The main organizer for Canadian swimmers, Chris Smith, advised me prior to travelling to Sweden that if I wished to register under the banner of The Ontario Master Swimmers, TOMS (rather than PMS) I would be able to participate in the relays. Seventy five swimmers arrived from Canada: 36 from Ontario, 15 from Quebec, 12 from Alberta, 9 from B.C. and one each from Manitoba, PEI and Nova Scotia. Chris made arrangements for an outdoor tent to be used by the Canadian team at Valhallabadet. Placement in TOMS relays was based on a special computer program that optimized teams based on best times and on total age ranges. TOMS was able to enter 22 relay teams on Wednesday, August 4th. I swam on three relays:

– 200 m mixed free (two women, two men) 160-199 years – Audrey Rivest 31.76, Laura Nichols 33.33, Andy 29.75 and Bill Chisholm 29.89(2:04.73).
– 200 m free Men’s 200-239 years – Chris Cupidio 30.27, Ralph Rieper 29.72, Andy 30.72, Bill 30.25. (2:00.61).
– 200 m medley Men’s Medley 240-279 years – Vello Mijal 43.00, Phil Rogers 48.22, Andy 32.76, Richard Hibbert 32.03 (2:36.01). [I swam fly and was the youngest swimmer in this relay].

I met some great people on the trip and got to do some sightseeing in the city with my wife prior to and in between the competitions. Following the relays, the TOMS group went out for a nice dinner and spoke of both city highlights and our travel plans following the Worlds.

Other than the 800 free, the two other individual events I competed in were the 50 fly and the 100 fly, where I placed 43rd and 22nd respectively.

The next World Masters will be held in early June 2012 in Riccione, Italy on the Adriatic Riviera.

Andy Manahan