Longevity of club & Freeze or Fry meet evidence better facility needed, says past president

Jennifer Bahler, the club’s past president, says this year’s iteration of the meet may be the largest ever, which she believes is even more evidence that the city needs a proper aquatic centre.

“Look at the history of our club and what we’ve produced and are producing. Right now, we have multiple swimmers ranked top 10 in Canada, we would’ve had more Olympians if not for COVID, and we are successful in spite of the fact we train in the facilities we do,” says Bahler.

“Even if we wanted to break provincial records, we can’t because the pools are too short to hold those types of events. We don’t even have touchpads for our pool. The facilities we train in, for the size of our community and ability of the swimmers is by far the worst in Alberta.”

Bahler harkens back to the 2019 Canada Winter Games when synchronized swimming had to be held in Calgary as a bit of an embarrassing moment.

“The Freeze or Fry is unique, and I’m not sure that even if we had a big 50 metre indoor facility that we wouldn’t continue to do this outdoor event. But not having that 50 metre pool is a huge deficit for our kids,” she says.

“We have clubs who come from around the province for meets at the Michener pool, and they’re confused by the lack of seating. They come back because they support us, we support them, and we run a good meet, but sometimes they choose not to because it’s simply not a good facility to run a meet in.”

During 2023/2024 budget deliberations last December, the subject of funding an aquatic centre came up once again. City council directed administration to return with a report on project timing by the fourth quarter of this year, just in time for 2024/2025 budget debate.

In June 2021, the City announced that a future multi-use aquatic facility would be built on the Michener North lands.

In December 2020, council approved the scope, design and costing of such a facility.

The Recreation Centre, where the Freeze or Fry is held, was built in 1962, and its first big hosting duties were the 49th annual Canadian Outdoor Swimming and Diving Championships. That event folded and was never held again.

A larger 70th anniversary celebration for Catalina Swim Club is being planned for later this year.

Aquatic centre to be built at Michener North

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Longevity of club & Freeze or Fry meet evidence better facility needed, says past president

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