SASKATOON — Saskatoon Goldfins Swim Club President Randall Keays said they are thankful the city is hosting the 2025 Speedo Masters National Championships at the Shaw Centre, where over 500 swimmers, including three outside Canada, are competing from May 15 to 18.
It has been almost a decade since Saskatoon hosted a nationally competitive swimming event. With the assistance of Swimming Canada, it could help boost the sport in Saskatoon and the entire province.
“The goal is always within the province. Of course, I want to see it grow in Saskatoon, and we do know that even just with this coming up, we've had more masters individuals join the program and want to be involved and want to see that,” said Keays.
“We also know that hosting any swim meet locally, that's at a national level, will open the door for individuals to see what else swimming can do. It's not just getting in the water and going end-to-end. There's a fun component to it as well.”
Keays added the nationals, open to competitors 18 years old and up, goes beyond an event that attracted a large group of swimmers from different clubs in the province and is being held in Saskatoon.
“It's been almost a decade since Saskatoon has been able to host a national event, and this is just a refresher as to how do we do that and what do we do, and just kind of reopens the stage to showing what Saskatchewan and Saskatoon can offer at a national level,” said Keays.
“I've been a part of other more local-style masters meets, hopefully this event would also encourage more people to get involved in masters swimming, so that it is not just for retired or swimmers that have aged out of, say, their age category.”
Keayes added that even though the Masters is still a competition, winners will still be recognized and records can still be broken, seeing the camaraderie and some retired swimmers still getting in the water and continuing to do what they love is inspiring and adds uniqueness.
“Some still want to prove to themselves and the world that new times can be set. It is unlike what we see or say at the Olympics. We also see a fun element with the swimming community,” said Keays.
Ava Norman, a graduate of the Goldfins’ program and who just finished her first year at the University of Saskatchewan, said competing in the Masters at the national level and in Saskatoon still seemed unreal.
“I walked in last night and just saw everything set up, and it was just giddy butterflies. I was like: This is cool. I am competing in the 18 to 25 age group, but it would also be fun to compete against everybody and see how you stack up,” said Norman.
“That you don't have to be young to be competitive and continue to excel in sport. It was hard to stop swimming competitively; it was a significant shift, but coming into the Masters, I was grateful that there was still space for me to compete and still do the sport I grew up loving.
