OXBOW - In 2012, the Oxbow Seawolves hosted a swim meet.
Over the next 10 years, many applications were submitted in the hopes of hosting another one but it wasn’t meant to be.
In 2018, the town finished a beautiful outdoor junior Olympic-sized swimming pool and hoped that would lead to that elusive meet. Finally an application was accepted.
On July 10, competitive swimmers converged on Oxbow for the first official meet in the decade.
One hundred and two swimmers came from Regina, Swift Current, Assiniboia, Estevan, Weyburn and Rocanville. There was also good representation from the host club, the Seawolves.
Approximately 50 events were run for boys and girls in age divisions from seven and eight right up to 18 and over. The host club was very pleased with the three silvers they earned. Brendan Ball won his in the boys’ nine and 10, Jordan Macfarlane swam away with his in the boys’ 13-14 and coach Corey Purves medalled in the girls’ 15-17. Not bad for a small team.
There was a 51st unofficial race. A race against the weather. With thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon, there was an urgency to get all the races finished sooner rather than later. The lunch break was shortened; everyone swam a little faster and the race was won. The swim meet hit the finish line long before the thunder and lightning showed up.
Hosting a day like this is expensive. Medals and ribbons have to be purchased; officials and coaches need to be fed; fees need to be paid to Swim Sask.; mileage and accommodation for the referees have to be covered. The list of expenses is long.
The Seawolves were very thankful that many great prizes were donated that enabled them to hold a Chinese auction to help defray the costs.
Ultimately, finances were not the day’s main purpose. It was all about the swimmers who were able to participate in a sport that they love and for the hometown Seawolves to be able to compete in their own pool in front of their own fans.
Summer swimming starts at the beginning of May and runs to the end of August. The Seawolves began practising in June. They would love to have more swimmers. If you’re interested, details about the team and public swimming can be found on their Facebook page.
