Ths Moose Jaw Kinsmen Flying Fins have had this weekend circled on their calendar for a good long while.
When one of your largest and most popular events of the summer has been sidelined the past two years due to the pandemic, you know it’s going to be a good time when things are back in action.
The 54th annual Mike Mintenko Summerfest is set to hit the Phyllis Dewar pool this Saturday and Sunday, featuring more than 200 swimmers from all over western Canada in one of the few outdoor 50-metre swim meets of the season.
“It’s the first one in two years, so the swimmers have been really excited about this meet for a long time and they’re looking forward to getting into the outdoor pool and doing some racing,” said Flying Fins coach Gord Shields. “There’ll be 150 to 200 families here, too, so it’s going to be great for the community and restaurants all over town and just a really good event for Moose Jaw.”
The competition begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday and runs throughout the day before resuming at 9 a.m. Sunday and wrapping in the early afternoon.
The event carries a unique format in that it takes place in an outdoor 50-metre pool, one of the few left in western Canada. Having a chance to race in the long-course format in the lead-up to events like the Canada Summer Games and Junior and Senior Nationals is always a benefit, said Shields.
“It’s a completely different kind of swimming, so having an outdoor pool here and hosting a long-course meet here in June will be huge for all levels of swimmers,” he said. “They’re able to fine-tune and do some outdoor long-course racing in July and August, so a 50-metre outdoor pool would be a huge asset to this community for swimming.”
And that weighs into current matters of city council and the recent decision to build a new 25-metre pool in Crescent Park.
“Hopefully city council reconsiders that final decision,” Shields said. “You look at all the events that could be held here with a new 50-metre pool, including the Canada Summer Games, and you can see how much of a difference it makes.”
Of course, the main focus is on the races this weekend. Swimmers will benefit from a beautiful late-spring day on Saturday, with temperatures in the 33 C range, followed by a high of 26 C and chance of rain on Sunday.
Ideally, it all turns into a solid showing for the Flying Fins themselves in the pool.
“They get to race swimmers of their own age, so I expect we’ll see a lot of swimmers in the top three in results and hopefully a lot of personal bests, too,” Shields said. “We should definitely have a chance at doing very well.”
