The D.C. Aquatics Club recently won the large-team division trophy, among other honors, at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics competition. Maryland resident Dale Barnhard set U.S. Masters records in three races for female swimmers in the 55-59 age category.
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Friday, September 12, 2003
THE D.C. AQUATICS CLUB recently defeated its competition in the large-team division
at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics championship in California. The
DCAC swimmers upset teams from San Francisco, West Hollywood and San Diego to
take the title.
Dale Barnhard, a 56-year-old lesbian from Takoma Park, Md., set U.S. Masters’ records
for female swimmers ages 55-59 in three races: 50-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter
breaststroke competitions.
“It’s different from when we were kids — when first, second
and third place was the goal,” she said. “Seeing grandmothers in
there swimming 200-meter freestyle now, it was just great.”
Still, though, Barnhard hadn’t recorded a time that fast in 42 years.
The annual three-day swim meet took place Aug. 22-24 in Palo Alto, Calif.,
and pitted 80 teams from more than 12 countries against each other in swimming,
diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo competitions.
DCAC, a local gay swimming club, scored a solid win over West Hollywood, besting
them 1,780 total points to 1,281. San Diego came in
third with 906 points.
In addition to Barnhard, the DCAC men’s 400-meter medley relay team,
comprised of Alan Godfrey, Neill Williams, John O’Keefe and Jeff Mead,
set a U.S. Masters record. DCAC officials said their teams set seven IGLA individual
records and 17 relay records.
Neil Williams, competition chair for the DCAC, said no one was sure who won
the trophies until IGLA’s awards banquet.
“Our host team, the San Francisco Tsunami, was a bit overstretched in
terms of staff and volunteers,” he says. “We didn’t get regular
updated tallies on how well we were performing, so our win came as a bit of
a surprise.”
It was a particular sweet time for Barnhard.
In 1961, she qualified for the World Games at age 13 and won the 100-meter
breaststroke with a time of 1:22:6. Her record-setting time at IGLA came in
at 1:26:33 — a little more than three seconds difference.
Even Barnhard was surprised at her performance.
“I wasn’t sure I was looking at the right column [on the scoreboard],” she
said. “And I had had a run for my money there. When I hit that wall,
though, I was feeling really good.”
A retired house painter who now runs her own pet-sitting business, Barnhard
has plenty of other distractions to occupy her time.
“I’m very fickle. I go in and out of swimming,” she said.
She’s been with the DCAC since the 1990 Vancouver Gay Games. Her training
was a bit irregular just six months before the competition but has since turned
the wall.
She celebrated her records with a nice dinner and a glass of wine.
“No break,” she said. “I went right back to training. Maybe
now for the world [record].”
Major challenges don’t intimidate Barnhard.
In 1991, she was tossed out of a country and western bar in Virginia for dancing
with another woman. She filed a discrimination claim with the Alexandria Human
Relations Commission — and won.
www.swimdcac.org
202-387-3616
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