Tomorrow (Jan. 26), 75 master swimmers will be diving into the Jayman Built Aquatic Centre for the 25th Annual Foothills Master Swim Club Meet 

Meet Manager Lisa Harvey says it's the first time they have held the meet here and believes Cochrane is a good fit for their competitors.

Master swimmers ages 19 to 76 will be participating, including several from Cochrane. Calgary's Keith Shaw is the oldest competitor and is a founding member of the Calgary Masters Swim Club.

It's an open meet and attracts swimmers from the Calgary and Edmonton area. Numbers are down slightly but the club was struggling to find a location for the meet and announced the location later than usual.

The new minimum dive depth restriction established by Swimming Canada in the fall has drastically reduced the number of pools available for meets in Calgary, including their home pool at the Foothills Aquatic Centre, They were thrilled to discover the Jayman Built pool, which meets the new standard.

Having an electronic plunger here, too, is an added bonus and they won't have to rely upon stopwatches.

"We'll have more official times, so that's going to be really exciting. And it's a deeper pool so it's going to be a really nice pool for racing," says Harvey.

The Foothills club carries 60 swimmers and normally has a waiting list.

The door is left open to all swimmers, 19 and over, regardless of swimming experience. Fun, friendship, health, wellness, participation and achievement are all promoted by masters swim clubs. There are over 250 across Canada that involve more than 10,000 adults up to 105 years old.

Harvey says masters swimming is also attractive to athletes who have left their competitive years behind but want to stay active. Some do, though, advance to provincial, national and international masters championships.

Harvey, herself, is a Canadian Olympian who competed in the 10,000m (10k) event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"When athletes finish with their competitive sport, some want to keep going but they don't want to have the same level of commitment," she says. "With masters, you can swim as many times of the week as you want or as little as you want. I think that's what draws people to it."

It's also a nonimpact sport.

The meet starts at 1:45 p.m.