On a day when youngsters dominated the leaderboards, it was someone just a wee bit more, um, mature who attracted the most attention at Year Two of the open water swim competition known as "Across the Lake: Kalamalka Lake" Saturday morning at Coldstream's Kal Beach.
On face value, Conny Stahmuis's finishing time in the 1.5-kilometer distance variant, one of two events on the day, wasn't particularly remarkable. She completed the course in 51 minutes and 44 seconds, putting her 156th of 166 competitors and 114th among 122 females.
But here's the thing. Conny Stamhuis is just eight years short of 100.
To put it another way, she was already seven years old when World War II began. Think about that for a moment.
But her passion for swimming, a passion that began while growing up in Holland in the 1930s, would be derailed by the outbreak of the war. It would be more than a half century later in her new country of Canada that Stamhuis, now retired at the tender age of 65, would once again take to the water.
She's since set a number of age records and has walked away with trophies and medals galore. And along the way she's been no stranger to the Across the Lake group of events, now six-deep.
In fact, at the age of 90, she raised $17,000 for Doctors Without Borders while competing in the 2022 Across the Lake Swim: Kelowna.
Saturday, Stamhuis's posse included various members of her extended family, including her son, who at a relatively youthful 72 swam the morning's longer event, a 4.5-kilometer course that began 15-minutes south (by bus) at Juniper Bay Beach.
After receiving her gold medal, the elder Stamhuis, a little hard of hearing these days, talked more about her family than her own accomplishments.
"My other son, my in-law and my daughter, they were in the canoe (that traveled along with her)," she said.
"But it was beautiful today. The water was wonderful, the swim was good."
Winning the 1.5-kilometer race Saturday was 18-year-old student Jared Moore of Kelowna, a competitive swimmer who's headed for university in Alberta a week from now.
His margin of victory was 39 seconds over runner-up over Kubrick Read of Vernon.
"I did the 4.5K here last year," he said, "I came in second and I was going to do it again this year, but it was full when I tried to sign up.
"I thought I had a chance (to win) today. It just depended on who showed up."
Walking away with what was arguably the day's big prize was Kelowna's Max Parmar, who finished one minute and 27 seconds ahead of Calgarian Demetri Mylonas.
Parmar is just 15 years old. He swims with the Kelowna AquaJets.
Mylonas is 18 and won the 4.5-kilometer distance at last weekend's very first Across the Lake: Skaha Lake event.
"During the year we train eight times a week," said Parmar when asked about his obvious aptitude. "Our season starts in September and basically goes through to July. We get a month off in August, and that’s why I'm here."
But there were plenty of other interesting stories Saturday morning. Like that of Coldstream's own Severin Williamson.
"This is my first Across the Lake swim," the Vernon Kokanees member told us prior to the start.
"But I like long distances and I've done swims in the lake that are close to a kilometer. For some reason, long swims seem easier to me than short distances."
Williamson would finish 93rd of 166. Pretty darned impressive for a ten-year-old.
Or the Golinowski sisters of Kelowna, all three of whom competed in the 1.5-kilometer distance.
Emilie, 15 years old, finished fifth. She credited her parents for getting her into swimming when she was just seven years old.
Olivia, just 12 years old, finished eighth.
"I've done the 4.5K in the past," she said, sounding like a hardened veteran. "But my coach told me to do the shorter one today so I could race my sister."
And Sophia, a mere nine (!!) years old, finished 96th.
Saturday was also a family affair for 60-year-old Michael McLean and 13-year-old son Emmett McLean of Calgary.
"My wife and I have come out here for the past four decades anyway," said Michael, "for Ironman training primarily. And we have friends who live out here. We eventually want to end up here."
It was a good day for both. Dad finished 26th (out of 110 competitors) in the 4.5K distance race. Emmet was even better. He placed 14th in the 1.5K.
"It was beautiful today," said Across the Lake Swim event relations director Kari Baranieski, who's seen new events in spots like Skaha and Cultus lakes appear over the past year.
"We had about 330 registrants in our second year, up about 40 or so from 2023."
Baranieski handed out all sorts of accolades.
"I think this swim will grow," she said. "It’s stunning. We have a great location, two distances, a great community, and we never have a problem finding volunteers."
For more info on the Across the Lake Swim group of open water swims, hit up the website here.
