There is nothing that screams laziness about Sue Weir. She jokes she uses swimming as a motivation tool to combat it, but it is so much more than that as the retired teacher not only competitively swims herself but also coaches the Sarnia Rapids swim club.
Swimming competitively since she was 28 as a master swimmer, Weir loves the competitive nature of the sport but also how it makes her feel.
“It feels really nice, it feels like you are flying underwater, and especially if you can develop some power and some forward motion and speed it feels really neat,” Weir tells the Journal. “As far as the benefits, flexibility is just something you develop cause you are always stretching, you’re always curling up doing turns and things. As for overall fitness, it's great, I wouldn’t choose a different sport for that.”
Masters-level swimming is an organized group of swimmers who are 18 and over who swim in various clubs all over the world. As a master swimmer, you can join a club or be an individual when you attend the competitions throughout the year. Right now, Weir is doing a lot of competitions in the United States, having recently competed at the Michigan Masters State Championship, where she took home four golds and three silvers.
In 2013, the Sarnia Sports Hall of Fame awarded Weir with the amateur award and she has broken many more records since then, including two in Michigan this past April.
“I think I’ve only broken one Canadian record, and I would like to break more of them, and I will still work on them,” says Weir. At 67, Weir still has lots of time to break records on both sides of the border, as the highest age category right now starts at 105.
“I’ve watched a man just over 100 swim and it was so cool. And some don’t take up the sport till they are in their 80s. That is my goal to keep swimming. Survival of the healthiest,” laughs Weir.
Competing and training while coaching keeps her busy, but she says her competitions have shown her team where swimming can take them in the future.
“They can see themselves swimming for the rest of their lives and compete because they like competing. I've opened up the idea to them that if they don’t do university swimming it doesn’t matter they can do masters swimming,” explains Weir.