Orillia’s Dave Town has returned home from the United States Masters Swimming Championships with a complete set of medals, including a gold medal as U.S. National Champion.
The competition was held in Indianapolis, Indiana over the weekend at the University of Indiana Natatorium’s 25-yard pools. The five-day meet had more than 2,400 of the best swimmers in the United States competing in the standard masters five-year age groups.
In the 400-yard individual medley Town placed first in a time of 4:43.86 to win the event in the 60-64 age group by seven seconds.
“Only in the States do they use 25-yard pools, a legacy of the NCAA college system there. But in a long event like the 400 IM, after training here in our 25-metre pool, it makes the race seem shorter, but no less painful,” said Town.
Town picked up silver medals in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly. In the IM he was beaten by the world record holder, Carlos Travaini of California, by five seconds, but was a solid three seconds ahead of the third-place swimmer (Travaini’s 2:05.6 to Town’s 2:10.8 to third place in 2:13).
His time converted to a 25-metre pool would have broken the Canadian record by almost a second.
“You don’t get to swim next to the world record holder very often, so it's fun to see exactly how you stack up,” said Town. “I was a little faster in the backstroke and freestyle, but he thumped me in the breast and fly.”
The butterfly medal was a surprise. Town was in fifth place at the halfway point but fought back on the second 50 to out-touch three other swimmers for the silver medal in 58.8 seconds, beating the third place swimmer by just four-tenths of a second.
“In all my races I finished very well, some of the best splitting I’ve done in years. Finishing strong is not typically my strength, so that made the high placings more rewarding – I executed well," said the accomplished local swimmer who is a member of the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame.
Town took home the bronze medal in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:58.49. The silver medallist was over two seconds ahead of Town with just 50 yards to go, but Town closed fast on him, narrowing the gap to less than half a second.
“Ten more yards and I would have caught him,” said Town. The fourth and fifth place finishers were within a second of Town, too, making for an exciting race.
Finally, in the first race of the meet for Town, he placed fourth in the 100 IM with a time of 1:00.30, less than two-tenths of a second from the bronze medal.
“Sprinting speed is not my forte, it’s the speed endurance of the 200’s I do best. In the States there are always sprinters who come out of the woodwork,” commented Town. “But I did out-touch the next two guys by less than half a second.”
Town is the only member of Orillia’s masters swim group to compete in meets this year. The group trains at the Orillia Recreation Centre three times a week, and you’ll often see Town doing additional workouts and weight training sessions, too.
On Tuesday he’ll begin training for next season.
