wellness | fitness They call themselves the Swedish fish - and at least one of them will be swimming in a Swedish lake with some fish this summer! More properly, they are six female members of the London Silver Dolphins, who have qualified for the FINA World Master's Championships with Team Ontario this summer in Goteborg, Sweden (July 27-August 7). Five are in their early- to mid-50s and the "baby", Marci Kosac, is 45, making them a great example of lifelong fitness for women. The women have been training three nights a week and on weekends under the guidance of three coaches, Ken Fitzpatrick, Jay Nolan and Liz Moskal, to achieve the right to attend the World's. They posted individual qualifying times either at provincials in London this past March or at the nationals in BC this spring in order to be allowed to be one of the 6,600 competitors from around the world who will gather in Sweden for a variety of water events, including swimming, diving, water polo and open water swimming. Anneke Salmon, 54, a newly retired Westmount resident, may actually join up with those Swedish fish when she competes in the open water category. "I always feel the most natural in the water," says Anneke. "I just love being in the water, and you really do have to love it to pull yourself up off the couch at 8 p.m. on a winter's night to drive to the Aquatic Centre and jump into cold water! But I always feel better afterwards!" (Left to right) Anneke Salmon, Jeannette Eberhard, Sandie McTavish, Tracey Baker, Marci Kosac, Shelagh Bantock (Top photo) Anneke Salmon in the Backstroke event at the 2008 Canadian National Masters Competition
Life
in the
Fast Lane
London's Silver Dolphins
By Jane Antoniak Joining Anneke on those cold winter swim nights are her teammates Tracey Baker, 50, Shelagh Bantock, 54, Sandie McTavish, 55, Jeannette Eberhard, 54 and Marci Kosac, 45. Many share a car pool ride from their West London homes so that they will motivate each other to get to practice. "Most of swam as youth and then quit when we had kids," says Marci Kosac. She and her sister on the team, Tracey Baker, grew up swimming in Thunder Bay and then returned to the sport after raising children in London. "It's typical for women to join the club in their 20s and then rejoin in their 40s. The largest age group we have is women aged 40 to 60," explains Tracey, who is also the club registrar. She jokes that they are very keen on getting older as that puts them into new age groups where they can be the youngest person in a five-year age grouping - for instance, Tracey was thrilled to turn 50 as she now swims in the 50 to 54 age group. While there is a lot of camaraderie and personal friendship and support on the London Silver Dolphins swim team, it is a group for competitive swimmers - even if they 52 | CITYWOMAN ISSUE ELEVEN: JULY/AUGUST 2010 www.citywoman.ca
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