Hache reaches million metre challenge less than seven years after learning to swim

By Peter Assaff

Patrick Hache (left) of Beresford received a certificate from coach Pat Traynor after completing the Million Metre Challenge at the Bathurst Aquatic Centre. Hache, who became the first swimmer from the area to complete the feat last month, will also receive a gold swim cap signifying the accomplishment from Masters Swimming Canada.

When Patrick Hache turned 45, he decided to learn how to swim.
Less than seven years later, he has become the first member of the Bathurst BLAST masters swim club to complete the Million Metre Challenge.
"It took me about 30 months to do it," said the 51-year-old Beresford resident, a teacher at the New Brunswick Community College in Bathurst and the chairman of this weekend's Chaleur Triathlon. "I started in November 2005, and I reached it on June 9. My coach (Pat Traynor) even marked the hour I did it, it was 7:30 (p.m.) in the middle of practice. I was 50 metres over, and he told me I had 999,950 metres to go to finish my second million."
The Million Metre Challenge is a Masters Swimming Canada program designed to promote swimming for health and fitness. It encourages regular participation by having swimmers track their progress and recognizes those who reach various milestones. More than 800 adult swimmers, aged 18 and over, in Canada have taken up the challenge, including several members of the BLAST Masters who swim out of the Bathurst Aquatic Centre.
The pool at the Aquatic Centre is 25 metres in length, which means Hache had to complete 40,000 lengths of the pool to reach the million metre or 1,000 kilometre mark.
"I'm doing 2,200 or 2,300 metres a day, or between 80 and 100 laps an hour. That's not bad for an old guy like me," he laughed.
The father of five grown children, Hache swims for an hour three or four times a week. He said completing the challenge is especially satisfying, given the fact that not that long ago he was scared of the water.
"I'm proud because I will turn 52 in October and I started taking swimming lessons when I was 45. So it is new for me," he said. "All of my kids were swimmers and were members of the BLAST swim team. I decided to give myself a gift for my birthday and decided to take swimming lessons. The first time the coach asked me to do a lap, I couldn't make it half way. Luckily I was near the side, or he would have had to jump in and get me. I couldn't swim at all."
"When I was eight or nine years old...one of my friends just jumped on me and kept my head under the water and I (became) scared of the water," he added. "I started by taking adult lessons, once a week, and it took me about six months before I started to do laps."
Hache credits Traynor's patience with helping him conquer his phobia.
"I had to get over my fear of the water," he said. "After that it was not so bad."
Hache, who never took part in sports before taking up swimming, has recently added cycling to his fitness regimen and has some simple advice for anyone thinking of taking up swimming as an adult.
"Just go for it," he said. "Do it at your own pace, don't go there and try to do 3,000 metres the first day. It is a complete exercise for every part of the body. It seems hard, but you just have to learn the technique and then it is a lot easier. I'm probably in the best shape of my life."
"When you swim you have to concentrate on swimming and you forget everything else around you," he concluded. "All the problems, everything else around you just disappears. It is a relaxation exercise."