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OUTLOOK — From the time she was a little girl, Karen Cole has loved swimming. From lessons to lifeguarding to lane swimming, she has always felt at home. As the 2025 pool season comes to a close, the woman who grew up in Outlook reflected on the decades she has spent in the water.
“I started swimming when I was a little girl down at the pool in the park. I can remember being down there at least at the age of six,” the dedicated swimmer said. By the time she was 12, she was lifeguarding a bit, and at 15 took her lifeguarding and instructing at the RCMP Depot in Regina.
Karen remembers fondly the time spent at the former pool. “It was such a nice setting in the park. All our friends went there and that’s where we spent our summers.” She taught swimming lessons to many kids from Outlook and the surrounding areas. “They were just great years,” she shared. “So much fun.”
Karen hasn’t let anything interrupt her connection to the pool. Even after becoming a nurse, getting married and moving to Conquest, she ensured there was time for swimming. Working as a nurse for 43 years in Outlook, she continued to make swimming part of her day. “I would come swimming in the mornings before heading to work. I always made sure I could fit it in.” During that time, she often took care of people she’d taught and lifeguarded years before. “Oh yes, many times,” she remarked. “They would recognize me and we had that connection because of the pool.”
For five decades now, she has been faithfully taking part in the early morning lane swim. “I wouldn’t miss it. I’m here every morning,” she said. “I drive in from Conquest every day for 6:30 lane swim. I just love doing it.” She said swimming is a good choice of activity no matter your age since “it’s a sport that doesn’t put any extra stress on your body.”
She used to incorporate all the swimming strokes into her time at the pool but now alternates between breaststroke and front crawl. She tries to keep track of her laps and thinks she averages about 40 each day. “A lot of the younger girls do more, but I also stretch and exercise in between. That’s part of my swimming routine, too,” she explained.
There are usually eight swimmers who arrive around 6:30 a.m., with a few others coming later for a fairly consistent group of 13. There are two hours set aside for lane swim so people can come and go as their schedules allow. In addition to the athletic aspect of lane swimming, Karen said there’s a social component too. “We visit as we’re getting in and out of the pool and then we stop every so often and talk. We make such good friendships here lane swimming.”
Karen has witnessed significant changes in her decades of swimming, beginning with the pool in the regional park and now the new facility located by the Rec Plex. “We’re so fortunate for Outlook, as a small town, to have had that pool down by the river for so many years and then to have this new pool now. It’s a beautiful facility. I really enjoyed the old pool because I grew up there but this facility is just awesome. It’s a special thing that we’ve got here.”
Karen says there’s never been a time she wasn’t swimming, and she is thrilled her family enjoys the water, too. “All my children are swimmers and all my grandchildren, too. Some of them lifeguarded. Now I have a great-grandson taking swimming lessons here,” she remarked. Ensuring people understand water safety has been important to her, particularly after the loss of a friend when she was a teenager. “I had a friend that drowned swimming in the river when I was about 16. We have to learn respect for the water. That’s very important and that’s why the pool is the best place to swim.”
The Van Raay & Community Swimming Pool will finish its season Labour Day weekend, bringing lane swimming to an end for another year — something Karen admits is sad for her. She intentionally stays active around the house over the winter until the pool opens again for another summer. “I am always excited to get back together with friends. It’s such a special group and I get anxious and excited to come back.”
After many decades of recreation and enjoyment in the pool, Karen has no intention of stopping any time soon. “I’m probably the oldest one out here but I will keep going. It’s been such a part of my life and I wouldn’t change that. I will continue as long as I can.”
