A REGULAR swimmer at Bathurst Aquatic Centre would like to see the outdoor pool at the facility remain open longer each year.
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Doug Fisk moved to Bathurst from Manly in 2016 and has enjoyed the provision of a quality 50 metre outdoor pool, normally using it three to four days a week.
He said he got quite the surprise when the pool closed in March 2017, a few months after he moved to Bathurst.
“It was, like this, still mid 20s and 30s, but it was shut in March,” Mr Fisk said.
When the outdoor pool closes for the cooler months, the regular early morning lap swimmers have to use the smaller indoor pool, which is used by young swim squads at the same time.
Mr Fisk said the squads and the lap swimmers are always respectful of each other in the space, but it’s hard for both groups to share in the smaller area.
With the outdoor pool, the swimmers can spread out and not get in the way of each other.
“It is a long winter for us all to be crammed into a 25 metre pool every morning,” Mr Fisk said.
While he understands that keeping a pool open is costly, for both heating and employing lifeguards, Mr Fisk said that closing the outdoor pool for the winter should come down to the conditions and not some arbitrary date.
“In the day and age of obesity – Bathurst has so many fast food places – why can’t we keep the outdoor pool open for fitness until the weather dictates,” he said.
“I think Bathurst is so lucky to have indoor and outdoor pools, but I think it would be good to have [the outdoor pool] a little more in the winter.”
He said a solution may be to reduce the hours gradually, keeping the outdoor pool open in the morning only while it’s still warm and then closing it completely when it becomes too cold.
Mr Fisk’s comments come after councillor John Fry raised the pool closure at the March policy committee meeting of Bathurst Regional Council.
Cr Fry had received comments from regular swimmers, who were frustrated the pool had closed when the weather was still so hot.
Until this week, April’s maximum daytime temperature hadn’t dropped below 28 degrees.