The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010 29 Former OAK swimmers part of world-record performance O akville's Christine van Warmerdam and her Burlington Masters Swim Club teammates were already thrilled with what they had accomplished -- a national title and Canadian record at the Canadian Masters Long Course Swimming Championships in Nanaimo, B.C. None of them were expecting what came next. Nearly three weeks after the competition, Jenn Kerr opened an e-mail from Masters Swimming Canada. It was requesting copies of the swimmers' birth certificates so that the organization could verify their world record. "It was pretty impressive, and a bit of a surprise," said Kerr, the Burlington club's president who swam the anchor leg. Kerr, Colleen Chiki, Sandra Judd and van Warmerdam turned in a time of four minutes, 23.91 seconds in the 4x100metre freestyle in the 120-160 age group. That allowed them to win by 4.5 seconds in a race in which the top three teams all RECORD SETTERS: Burlington Masters Swim Club members (from left) Colleen Chiki, eclipsed the old Canadian mark. Christine van Warmerdam, Jenn Kerr and Sandra Judd set a world age group record in the 4x100m As impressive as their time was, "it relay recently. Van Warmerdam and Judd are former members of the Oakville Aquatic Club. never even occurred to us to check the The youngest member of the team, the also made things a little more complicatworld records," Chiki said. The race brought together four indi- 20-year-old returned to competitive ed at the national championships. "It was a little stressful looking after viduals to accomplish what nobody in the swimming three years ago because of a love of the sport and the chance to the little guy and making sure you were world ever had ever done before. reunite with her former ready to swim when you were supposed to First in the water was van coach Dave Judd, who she be," said Judd, 34, who swam at the Warmerdam, a freestylist "It never even trained with at the Oakville Oakville Aquatic Club before competing whose specialties are distance occurred to us to Aquatic Club while she was for the University of Toronto. events like the 1,500 and 800 check the world attending Holy Trinity. With different teams positioning their metres. Hitting the water next was fastest swimmers at different points in "It's a different mindset. records." the coach's wife, Sandra the relay, the lead changed hands several You just go as fast as you posJudd. Judd has been swim- times and Judd simply focused on outsibly can and kick as hard as n Swim team ming with the club for 10 touching her opponents. you can," said the third-year member Colleen Chiki years but just got back in the "We knew we had a very good chance Queen's University student. Warmerdam said having the team's water in September after having her first of setting the Canadian record," Judd biggest two rivals, Aurora and Etobicoke, child, a boy who will celebrate his first said. "But it was not just the record, but can in the lanes beside her gave her a little birthday next week. Being a new mom has forced her to we beat these other teams." extra incentive. And, knowing a Canadian Next up was Chiki, a mother of two record was a possibility, she wanted to get cut back on her training from three or four days a week to just one or two. It who also runs 5 km races in the summer. her team off to a good start. "To be able to say that you have a world record after swimming for a million years," she said. "It doesn't seem like it's actually real." There weren't exactly dinosaurs roaming the earth when Chiki began her competitive career, but van Warmerdam was just three years old when Chiki began swimming for Brock University. That gives Chiki the right to claim responsibility for the record. "I'm the oldest," the 36-year-old said. "I put us over into the next (age) category." Though she wasn't aware of their world record status at the time of the race, Chiki has since looked up other world marks. "The 4x200, I think we have a shot," she said. "It's just a matter of finding a (long-course) meet that has it." Bringing home the record on the anchor leg was Kerr -- "our ringer", as Judd calls her. The 31-year-old qualified for the national university championships three times while swimming at Laurier and McMaster and won the Burlington Sport Alliance masters athlete of the year in 2008 after winning 10 gold medals at the national championships the previous year. But as Kerr hit the water, there were more pressing issues than any record. They still had to win the race. Teams from Aurora and Etobicoke were also pushing the Burlington swimmers. "There was pressure, but a good racer thrives on that pressure," Kerr said. "It helps. I was excited to take off and go." Even as Kerr pulled away from her opponents and the victory was no longer in doubt, her teammates were still shouting encouragement as they pushed for the record. As soon as Kerr touched the wall and they saw the time, they knew they had a national record. The latest bit of news made brought another reason to celebrate. "It's quite amazing to know you are part of something like that," Judd said.