Chris Lowrey, THE EQUITY
What seemed like the entire community came out for the annual Norway Bay swim meet at the pier.
The event has been going on for more than 70 years and is one of the longstanding traditions in the community.

Chris Lowrey
NORWAY BAY August 6, 2017
The pier in Norway Bay was full of enthusiastic swim fans on Saturday as the annual Norway Bay swim meet got underway.
The event has been a mainstay in the community for more than 70 years. The set-up is quite impressive as each swimmer is timed and records going back decades in some cases are also kept on the books.
The swim meet is the one of the final events in Norway Bay’s larger regatta festivities that is orchestrated by the Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA). The regatta got under way the weekend of July 22 with the canoe and kayak regatta. The weekend of July 28 featured running races, a long-distance swim, a bike scavenger hunt and a basketball free-throw competition.
The whole thing wrapped up on the August long weekend with the swim meet on Saturday, a dance at night and the triathlon on Sunday.
The swim meet is an event that seems to draw the whole community out, which was evident with the sardine-like conditions on the pier during the races.
Family members, friends and neighbours came out to cheer on all the participants.
They also ate hotdogs, lots of hotdogs. Regatta director Stephanie Brousseau said that more than 900 hotdogs were consumed during the regatta, most of those before noon. In fact, she went so far as to declare hotdogs as the unofficial Norway Bay breakfast of champions.
The races got underway at 10 a.m. and went for a couple of hours solid. The meet seemed to move like a well-oiled machine as the next race was nearly in the starting blocks by the time the previous race’s participants were climbing out of the water.
The competition itself was stiff, as the racers not only competed against one another, but they also had their eyes on knocking off longstanding records to get their name into the Norway Bay history books.
One such successful swimmer was Addison Butler who smashed a 33-year-old record in the 12-year-old backstroke category, which stood since 1984.
Butler also broke two other records during the swim meet – including the fastest ever 25 metre time in the freestyle event.
The top three competitors in each event during the regatta earn points. Third place gets one point; second gets two and first place gets three points. At the end of the regatta, the points are tallied up and the boy and girl with the most points get to share the prestigious George Herman Trophy.
The trophy was donated by the late George Herman, who owned a store in Norway Bay. He was a common sight throughout the community during his various volunteer engagements. He decided to donate a trophy to encourage kids to get out and participate in the events that the community hosts.
While the swim meet was taking place Brousseau prophetically commented that her nieces would be knocking off her old records. Turns out they did accomplish something special: Julie, Abby and Merielle Broussard finished one-two-three in the George Herman Trophy results.
On the boy’s side, Karim Harb took home the trophy, with Russell Neidre finishing second and Jordan Bastien coming in third respectively.
Many of those who participated didn’t leave empty handed either. Any child who took part in seven or more events was given a participation medal on Sunday night.
Considering the fact that Norway Bay sits right on the Ottawa River, it’s not shocking that there are so many capable swimmers in the area. But one of the unique things about the swimming program is the fact that it is one of the last in the province to take place in a river. Many swimming lessons are taught in indoor pools.
In fact, Addison Butler’s father Richard extolled the virtues of the swimming program.
“We can’t say enough about the NBMA swim program that has been key to both our children’s lives,” Richard said in an email. His daughter Alexandra is living proof of the swim program’s impact as she is currently part of Team Alberta competing in the swimming events at the Canada Summer Games.
After the festivities wrapped up on Saturday, the community filed into Centennial Hall for the annual regatta dance.
After a late night of dancing, the 9 a.m. start for the triathlon seemed to take its toll on some of the event’s competitors. But once they changed into their swimming gear and got down on the docks, the cold air served as a stern wakeup.
Participants jumped into the water on the west side of the pier, swam around to the east side and headed for shore. Once they arrived on dry land, they dried off and mounted their bikes for a nearly 10 km bike ride through Norway Bay and Bristol.
They then returned to the beach to drop off their bikes and headed back out for a 2 km run.
The regatta serves as the end-of-summer party for the community, as many of the cottagers head back to the city to get ready for the upcoming school year.
Brousseau said the event serves as a way to bring an already tight-knit community even closer together.
“It’s all in the name of friendly competition,” she said.
To top it all off, the weather – although not perfect – held out and gave the community relatively decent weather considering the summer we’ve had so far.
“The regatta gods usually smile on us,” she said. “This year turned out pretty good too.”