Reopening of pool worth ‘wading’ for
Dignitaries and community members gathered for official ceremony after two-year renovation
It feels like a homecoming for user groups returning to Trent University’s Allan Marshall pool after it was closed more than two years for repairs.
The Peterborough Swimming Club, Kawartha Artistic Swimming and Special Olympics Swimming returned to the waters in January. On Wednesday, the university held a grand reopening 29 months after the pool closed due to issues with the filtration system. In addition to replacing the pump, piping and headers, the university also replaced deck tiling, added an accessible ramp and installed state-ofthe-art starting blocks.
The $2-million renovation project was the first major upgrade to the pool since its opening in 1978.
User groups were forced to find time at the Peterborough YMCA and Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre pools, which are not 25-metre laned competitive pools, or they travelled to Cobourg, Port Hope, Lindsay and Toronto to get pool time.
“It’s just a sense again to actually feel like you’re home,” said Dani Smith, Kawartha Artistic Swimming head coach. “We were always the guest in Port Hope or sharing pools and had all the equipment in my basement. To have a home pool to go to again and bring our stuff and have the proper training equipment allows us to finally focus on renewing growth of our programming.”
“It feels like we’re not wandering in the wilderness and we’ve returned home,” said Peterborough Swimming Club head coach Dan Stratton. “It’s great from the standpoint of having a facility which is not only an upgraded and renovated space, but we have great access. That’s equally important. The time we’re able to have training which is really optimal for our kids before the school day starts or at the end of the school day. We were doing a lot of our training late in the evenings, on the weekends and then in addition to that was the travel. It’s simplified things significantly. Plus it allows us to host (meets).”
Special Olympics head swim coach Debbie Quinlan said there was a lot more noise and activity at other pools they used and it can be challenging for some of their athletes who have heightened sensory sensitivity.
“We’re thrilled to be back at Trent,” Quinlan said. “Now we have these wonderful blocks to train off and we now have a 25-metre pool to train in. We are thrilled with the possibility of finally being able to host a swim meet for Special Olympians across Ontario, which we haven’t been able to do in a number of years.”
It took the university some time to wrestle with what repairs were needed and the costs, but Trent board of governors chair Debra Cooper-Burger said it was a worthwhile investment.
“We try to have a full support network for our students and having a pool is the kind of infrastructure we needed and we need to upgrade it,” she said. “This pool hadn’t really had any deferred maintenance for quite a while. We decided it was such an important piece of our athletics at Trent University that we had to make the investment.”
It’s a welcome sight to administration, staff and students to have it open again.
“When we cut the ribbon today, you could see the stakeholders who were here. Everybody was really excited about the changes we’ve made to the pool and the investment we’ve put a priority to,” she said. “There are so many opportunities for our community to use this pool.”
Learn to swim and public swimming programs are set to resume this spring.
The Allan Marshall Pool is named in honour of Flight Lieutenant Stuart Allan Marshall, a former national swim champion remembered for his commitment to the sport, his involvement in the Peterborough community and his support in establishing Trent University.