Cochrane is about to yet an even larger swim meet this weekend with the Cochrane Comets' Fast and Furious Invitational.

Almost 300 swimmers from the Calgary area will be competing in the short course meet that starts tomorrow night and continues until Sunday. Fifty-five Comets are among the participants.

Comets head coach Danielle Genung expects they'll be some fast times record, especially with the meet coming in the middle of the long course season.

"The theory is the swimmers are going be faster," says Genung. "We have swimmers who will be coming who are trying to get provincial times or maybe some are trying to get champ times."

Genung says the club is ready for the rush of the weekend.

"We have a great group of parent volunteers and we'll have some volunteers officiating from other clubs, which is a normal thing for swim meets."

They'll also be utilizing the new Omega Quantum aquatics timing system and that will allow swimmers and spectators to look up to see times immediately after a swim.

"It will be interesting because those stands will be packed. It will be great. We're very excited."

With such a huge crowd, the pool will be closed for the entire weekend.

"I know there are some community members who are voicing concerns over the facility being closed for the sake of the swim meet. It is fairly standard practice for a  pool like this to host a meet and to have the facility shut. It is closed for safety reasons. You can only have some many people on the pool deck."

These meets are an essential part of developing swimmers in Cochrane.

"It's a huge boost for our community. Cochrane is known for its athletics and we would like swimming to start to come up the ranks of that. In order for that to happen, we need to host meets."

"We are building our reputation in the industry and we're doing well. People are excited to come and race in our community. At the end of the day, it's 100 per cent about the kids; it's always about the kids. I know sometimes it's inconvenient but it's about the kids and in the big picture it's a small ask."

Many swimmers start at age 5 or 6 and it becomes a huge part of their life until they're 17 years old. They spend 12 hours a week practicing and even more as they mature. For some, it opens the door to other opportunities.

"At 17, some of them will go to university on scholarships. There's a huge opportunity to travel, to see the world and to compete in international meets. The opportunities that we are trying to offer our kids are much bigger than this."

The Comets have grown from 108 swimmers from 48 last season since moving to the Jayman pool and they've restructured their club to meet the demand. Right now, they have a spring session for about 45 swimmers new to their program and in the fall they are aiming to grow their club to about 135-140 swimmers.

They're also developing a community service component.

"It's not for the sake of fundraising but to give something back to the community for the sake of giving back. 

"It's about what can we do to enrich their lives and teach them as people to not just be the best person they can be, but to be strong contributing members of their community and then hopefully bring their kids back."

This is the Comets second meet at the new pool. In December, they hosted 175 swimmers for the Comets Distance and IM Challenge.