'It's unbelievable:' Regina Masters swimmers dive off the block with a combined age of 321

Edie Hilts remembers her first time getting back to a swimming pool in her 60s. The coach suggested everyone do 200 metres for a warmup.

"I swam the first length down to the end of the pool, I was so dead and gasping for breath that I could not swim any more."

But that was more than a decade ago, and a lot has changed since then. On Saturday, the 77-year-old did a total of 1,800 metres over the course of the day. She and her fellow swimmers, Penny Mymryk, Loreen Rein and Mary Brown, took part in a Regina Masters Swim Club meet in the 320 to 359 age category a combined total of all their years.

It was the first time ever that Saskatchewan has had a 4 x 50 metre relay in the 320 to 359 age group. Being the first, they also got to send the provincial recordin the event, with atime of 4:33.

Spectators stood on the edge cheering and shouting them on, something that Hilts described as "unbelievable."

"It's the most wonderful feeling."

Hilts started swimming after retirement, when her friend suggested she try it for exercise. Shortly after that first attempt, she signed up for a meet, having no clue what might be involved.

"I'm sure I probably had the biggest belly flop in the entire race. But I did it and I got to the other end without dying, and that was pretty much my goal," she said, laughing. "And it just kind of hooked me."

Now she, Mymryk, Rein and Brown, who are all in their 70s and 80s, swim three or four times a week. They travel to meets across the country, encouraging each other to go the distance and keep pushing further.

They're always getting the biggest, loudest cheers when they're competing.- Jen Gardiner, member of Regina Masters Swim Club

Others watch the group in awe.

"They're always getting the biggest, loudest cheers when they're competing," says fellow masters swimmer Jen Gardiner.

It's "super inspiring" to watch the group, and shows the younger swimmers they too may be able to swim into their 70s, 80s and perhaps even beyond, said Gardiner.

"I'm hoping to be alive at that age, let alone diving off a block, swimming and setting records," Gardiner joked.

The ladies just hit the 320 to 359 age group; it would take them a collective 40 years to hit a new frontier of 360 and beyond.

"I don't know if anyone's ever done it. We won't be doing it," said Hilts. But then she adds as an afterthought, "Never say never."