CHRIS LOWREY
NORWAY BAY Aug. 4-5, 2018
The streets of Norway Bay were packed this weekend as the Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA) wrapped up its annual regatta with several marquee events.
Saturday morning kicked off with the swim meet at the pier. Hundreds of people crammed the wharf and cheered on the swimmers as they tore up and down the lanes.
“I don’t think I’ve seen this many people on the pier in over two decades,” said Marc Richard over the sound system. “What a great turnout.”
This year’s event had several records broken.
12-year-old Julie Brousseau broke the 25-metre freestyle record with a time of 14:37 as well as the 25-metre backstroke record for girls with a time of 16:47. Addison Butler, 13, broke the 50-metre freestyle record for 13-year-old boys by a whopping six seconds with a time of 28:81. The 17 and older girls 50-metre record was broken by Maura MacLean with a time of 34:00. Kyle Dixon-Anderson and Tim Stewart both broke the 17 and up boys record for breast stroke with times of 38:09 and 38:65 respectively.
Many records date back decades as the times have been carefully recorded each year. It presents a unique opportunity for youngsters to not only compete against others in their age group, but also their parents when they were the same age.
After the swimming wrapped up, families headed to Centennial Hall for the annual air bands competition where youngsters form bands and “perform” a rendition of their favourite song.
But after the sun went down Saturday night, an event geared more towards adults garnered the crowds – the annual Norway Bay dance.
Centennial Hall was packed with hundreds of people. It appeared as though more people were outside than inside, probably because of the tight quarters in the building – not to mention the cooler temperatures outside compared to inside the hall.
The Sunday morning usually presents one of the toughest endurance tests of the entire regatta – who can haul themselves out of bed the morning after the dance to take in the triathlon.
In what appeared to be a feat of super-human recovery, 75 participants turned up at the Norway Bay beach to take part in the annual wrap-up race.
The triathlon starts with a 320 metre swim around the pier and ending at the beach. From there, swimmers gear up for a nine km bike ride to Bristol and back where they then head out on a 2.5 km run to the finish line.
Ian Dixon Anderson finished first overall with a time of 37 minutes. Esmeralda Harris was the top female with a time of 41:47, which broke her own previous record.
On Sunday night the community flocks back to Centennial Hall for the regatta awards ceremony.
The George Hermann Trophy for top male and female athlete was awarded. Karim Harb took home his second consecutive Hermann trophy with a total of 20 points out of a possible 21. Ella Neidre won the award for top female athlete with 14 total points.
Each first place finish is worth three points, a second place finish is worth two points and a third place finish is worth a single point.
Plenty of youngsters took home hardware as 60 kids received a victory medallion, which is awarded to those who are ten and under who participate in at least six events and those who are aged 11 to 16 and participate in at least eight events.
Over the course of the three regatta weekends, the NBMA handed out over 1,500 freezies, 1,000 hotdogs, 10 gallons of orange drink and 537 ribbons.
