CURRENTS CURTAILED
Aquatic centre tweaked
The unfair currents that prompted Swim Canada to block the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre from hosting national swim meets have been fixed, city officials say. “Windsor’s premier water training and competition facility is in top form and ready to host any-and-all events,” says a City of Windsor news release issued Tuesday, following a visit from the pool’s Italian maker Myrtha Pools. The company addressed complaints made in April during the 2018 Eastern Canadian Swimming Championships, where swimmers and coaches claimed there were unfair currents in the outer two lanes. Basically, there was a clockwise current, which slowed down swimmers on the two outer lanes on one side, and assisted swimmers on outer lanes on the other side.
Most races involve distances that are multiples of two lengths — two, four, eight, etc. — so the disadvantages and advantages even out somewhat. But coaches complained that when there was a single-length 50-metre race, swimmers on one side were placed at a disadvantage. Windsor Essex Swim Team head coach Andrei Semenov believed the current problem translated to perhaps a one-tenth of a second advantage or disadvantage per length, which can be a big deal in national- or international-level meets.
After the Eastern Canadian meet, Swimming Canada confirmed it wouldn’t hold any more national competitions at Windsor’s state-of-the-art pool — one of only three in the province capable of hosting international meets — until the problem is fixed.
Jen Knights, the city’s manager of aquatic services, said Myrtha came in with high-tech equipment and performed a host of tests on the pool (including bringing in a swimmer from the U.S. to run simulations) and identified and fixed four root causes of the peculiar current in the 71-metre, 10lane pool. She described the pool as very complex, unlike any other she knows of in North America, with very deep water for diving, 3 million litres of water, a bulkhead that divides the pool into sections, and technology that allows some areas to be warmer than others so kids’ swimming lessons can be run while the competitive swimmers are training.
“It’s a big, complicated pool tank, but very impressed with (Myrtha’s) work with us, and we’re confident moving forward that we’re good,” Knights said.
Among Myrtha’s finding: A plug was discovered in one water inlet, probably put there to restrict cold water during normal programming like swimming lessons, but affecting normal water circulation; Aggregate debris, probably from when the pool was constructed more than five years ago, was restricting flow in several inlets; the flow calibration needed adjusting; and the water distribution among the inlets in the west and east walls of the pool needed balancing. “It was kind of a four-pronged solution,” said Knights, who said Myrtha did all the work on its own, not charging the city. Combined with Adventure Bay water park, the pool cost $78 million to build and opened five years ago to rave reviews from the swimming community. From a sports tourism perspective, its big meets draw upwards of 1,000 swimmers and officials, plus their families and supporters.
The regulating bodies for competitive swimming, Swimming Ontario and Swimming Canada, have been advised by both the city and Myrtha on the progress of fixing the problem. Knights said the city will now be communicating with them to review the root causes and the fixes put in place, to ensure they’re satisfied the problem has been addressed. The next big meets won’t be happening at the pool until next fall.