Pushing 89... and still in the swim
DAVID Hopkins is 88 going on 28 – that’s what his daughter tells him, anyway.
Most mornings, he pulls on speedos and goggles and swims 40 lengths at Hamilton’s Waterworld.
He covers the one-kilometre distance using backstroke, front crawl or freestyle, and a survival stroke he describes as being like a reverse breaststroke.
Then he goes upstairs to the gym for about 45 minutes.
‘‘I swim like other people walk,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s very rarely I miss a day.’’
The secret is pacing yourself, he added.
‘‘I could swim a couple of laps in the pool and be completely exhausted. But then I could get in and swim 100 laps and be as fresh getting out as when I get in. It’s just a question of how much effort you put into it.’’
Hopkins has swum all his life, starting as a child in the Welsh town of Barry, near the Bristol Channel. He recalls even having to negotiate his way around barbed wire-strewn beaches to get to swim in the sea during World War II.
Hopkins came to New Zealand in 1967 and was was swimming 100 laps a day into his early 80s until heart troubles forced him to take a break and reconsider the distance.
‘‘I decided that 40 was enough. I’m not getting any younger.
‘‘I don’t overdo it... I don’t break any records.’’
But the morning swim at Waterworld is a habit for Hopkins, who is now on first-name terms with most of the lifeguards and staffers.
He turns 89 on Saturday and is thought to be Waterworld’s oldest regular customer.