Dream comes true for Pointe Claire swimmers

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

It’s a dream come true for Pointe Claire recreation director Gary Malcolm — and his mentor, George Gate — and a new 10-lane Olympic-size indoor pool will mean even more dreams will come true for aspiring competitive swimmers and divers after the city announced plans to build the new pool last week.

The $11.7-million edifice will extend out diagonally from the existing Malcolm Knox Aquatic Centre facility and link up with the city’s recreation administration building at the corner of Douglas Shand and Maywood avenues, preliminary sketches indicate, and the city’s skate park will be relocated to as-yet-undecided location, Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie said.

The project was jointly financed by the city and the provincial government, through a special fund that used to go toward paying down the debt from the Olympic Stadium.

Quebec Education and Sports Minister Jean-Marc Fournier was on hand for the announcement, as was Jacques Cartier MNA Geoff Kelley, who lobbied long and hard for the project, Fournier said.

“He was very insistent, and I was convinced that not only was there a need, but that it was a facility that would be used and used well, by the community,” he said.

Kelley said the Malcolm Knox Aquatic Centre and Pointe Claire Swim Club’s tradition of turning out strong swimmers has helped advance the summer-pools swim programs in the West Island.

“Pointe Claire has always been committed to swimming, not just as an anecdote, but as an elite program and a popular program, and has been able to depend on a great network of community pools. It was a long, hard battle for expansion, but all those years of Wednesday night swim meets and water-polo games on the weekend have shown me that there is a great commitment to sports in general, and aquatic sports in particular,” he said.

Ground will break on the new facility around the middle of next year, after the city has gone through the hiring process and awarded contracts for the construction, McMurchie added.

“You can be quite sure this project is going to be on the middle of council’s desk for the next little while, at least,” he said, adding the Malcolm Knox Aquatic Centre has become a popular hub for swimmers of all ages.

“Programs are specifically geared to accommodate participants of all ages — from six to 94 years old,” he said, in a nod to masters’ swimmer Eugene Lehman, who still swims competitively at 94.

The popularity of the Pointe Claire Swim Club and the city’s diving program has grown so much that pool administrators are having trouble squeezing in recreational swim times and coaches must use their time and space economically. An estimated 500,000 swimmers have passed through the front doors of the pool since its construction in 1967.

“It’s crazy,” said swim team age-group coach Peter Carpenter. “We have swimmers in the pool all the time, and when they finish, and then the divers have to come in and do their thing. There’s just not enough time in the day.”

Despite burgeoning popularity and a crowded pool, Pointe Claire keeps on producing high-level swimmers and divers — four-time Olympian diver David Bedard is now a coach at the club and 2004 bronze medallist Émilie Heymans currently trains there.

Swimming Canada director Pierre Lafontaine said the Pointe Claire Swim Club has been a leader in amateur swimming through its family atmosphere and commitment to swimming at the grass-roots level.

“The ALPS (the summer community-pool racing circuit) league is something you won’t find anywhere else in the world, with winter coaches looking at summer kids, you have the infrastructure for the environment that’s created, where kids really feel as if they belong, as if they are at home,” he said.