Super Duck Flies North

by Edna Gordon and Dick Brewer

Super Duck is an inspirational super hero. That's how an ad for the movie or book might read, except it's not a fictional tale. It's a story from real life.

Simple exercise was all Ruth Switzer had on her mind when she began Masters swimming in Sarasota in 1974 at age 66.

The previous year she had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumor near her brain and her doctor recommended swimming as an activity that might be helpful.

Encouraged by her teammates, she entered her first meet that year. Two years later she set national Masters records in the 100, 200, 500, and 1650 freestyle events.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "It was a really exciting thing to happen to me considering I was 68 at the time. When I started swimming with Masters, I almost died after just one lap. After swimming the 1650, I could have kept on going."

And keep on going she did. Ruth won four gold medals in her five events at the USMS Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale in 1977. She earned three first places and five second place finishes in the 75-79 age group at the first International Masters Swimming Championships in Christ Church, New Zealand, in 1984.

But competing wasn't always smooth. After taking a silver medal in the 400 free on the first day of the 1988 World Championships in Australia, Ruth slipped and fell, sustaining an injury that took her out of the rest of the meet. But as always, determination and a love of swimming brought her back to the pool where she continued to establish personal bests in the meets that followed.

A world class person as well as a world-class swimmer, she said her success in the water was due to the encouragement and assistance from her teammates and to her son Allan, swim coach at the University of New Hampshire.

"I love the people I've met," she said. "The 25-year olds are just as nice and helpful as the older ones." The fellowship and socializing that took place at meets were more enjoyable than the competition, according to Ruth, and her only goals were to better her own times and to do her best without thinking about beating anyone else.

There's even a happy ending to the real life story. The brain aneurysm that brought her to swimming disappeared after she began swimming. She credits Masters swimming with literally saving her life.