Swim clubs want Northeast’s only 50-metre pool reopened

A letter from the North Bay Y Titans Swim Club urging Laurentian University to do what it needs to do to bring the only Olympic-sized pool in the northeast back into operation is receiving a lot of attention.

As of Friday, the Jan. 15 letter on the topic of the nearly four-year-long closure of the LU campus’ Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool had been shared on Facebook 113 times. Canadian Olympic swimmer Summer McIntosh has even shared the letter on her Instagram account.

Signed by the Titans swim club’s president, Mike Blair, the letter is addressed to Laurentian University board of governors chair Vernon Cameron.

“The impact of this facility is far reaching and its closure continues to have devastating consequences for athletes in Northern Ontario,” said the letter. 

“We respectfully urge the board of governors to continue to support the investigations and the development solutions to return the Jeno Tihanyi Pool back to operation.”

“We didn't want this news to go away,” Blair elaborated to our sister site, Sudbury.com, in an interview.

“We want this to be in the top of the news to ensure that not only the politicians but also Laurentian University … understand how important it is to us, and not only the North Bay Y Titans, but also the other 10 clubs that are in northeastern Ontario that depend on it.”

Pool has been closed since 2020

The Jeno Tihanyi Pool, which was built in 1972, was shut down in the spring of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and never reopened. In early 2022, with Laurentian University still undergoing insolvency restructuring, the pool started to leak. 

The university also discontinued its varsity swim teams in the spring of 2021, as part of its insolvency restructuring.

With LU having exited insolvency in late 2022 and able to spend money on repairing more than the absolute essentials, Laurentian has been investigating what it would cost to repair and reopen the facility, and earmarked $300,000 in its 2023-24 budget for that purpose.

Laurentian has been providing the community — many of them eager to see the pool to reopen — with regular updates on this file, with the most recent one issued Dec. 20. 

A repair options report was to be received imminently as of last month, and Laurentian said it would work with its consultant to evaluate all of the options in January. Another update on the pool’s status was to be provided to the community by the end of February.

In light of the widely shared letter from the North Bay Y Titans, Sudbury.com reached out to Laurentian University, asking for an interview on the pool with the most appropriate administrator. 

The university declined our request, saying there is “still analysis and discussions (including at the board level) that have to take place before they will be in a position to share the next steps on the project.”

Laurentian did say it is aware of the letter from the swim club, however.

Sudbury.com also asked if funding for pool repairs in the 2024-2025 budget would also be addressed at the upcoming Feb. 16 board of governors meeting, as this same topic was dealt with at the February 2023 meeting.

A spokesperson for Laurentian said “the board agenda is set closer to the date of the meeting, so we can't say for sure at the moment, but it does seem likely that this would be a topic discussed.”

Laurentian interim president Sheila Embleton said at the January 16 LU senate meeting that the university’s 2024-25 budget process is “well underway.”

North Bay Y Titans: ‘All options should be looked at’

North Bay Y Titans Swim Club president Mike Blair said the Laurentian University pool is the only 50-metre aquatic facility in northeastern Ontario. 

In order for swimmers to train and compete in a “long-course,” Olympic-sized pool, the closest options are now Toronto or Ottawa.

“As you are aware, the Jeno Tihanyi Pool, which is the only 50-metre pool in the North Eastern Region, has been a central hub for hosting training camps, swim meets, and the Ontario Summer Games, and has provided opportunities for thousands of athletes,” said the letter.

“In addition, the pool and university swim program have attracted students from all over Ontario, including the North Eastern Region high schools looking to further their education as well as compete at higher levels in swimming. 

“All of these opportunities have been lost due to the pool closure. There are a number of examples of North Bay athletes that have been forced to choose alternative post-secondary institutions due to the lack of a swim program and pool at Laurentian University.”

The letter also points to notable athletes from the region whose careers were launched at the Jeno Tihanyi pool, including double Olympic gold medallist Alex Baumann of Sudbury and Olympian (and North Bay Titan) Dominique Bouchard.

While Blair encourages Laurentian to allocate more funds to pool repairs, he also said other options need to be considered.

“I think all cost models should be looked at …. whether that's public-private partnerships, whether that's university doing it, whether that's private ownership, who knows, right?” he said.

“I don't know all the details on how all those contracting styles work. But I think the only way that this will happen is not just one individual group paying for it. I think it needs to happen from a number of different sources to be able to make it palatable, and achievable.”

‘We really appreciate the support,’ says Sudbury swim club

Dean Henze, head coach of the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club, said he appreciates the support from the neighbouring team, and is pleased the North Bay Y Titans’ letter has almost gone “viral” on social media.

“I think it's really great, amazing,” he said. “We really appreciate the support and the recognition from other programs in the region of how important that facility is.

“I think it's really important that the university understand that it goes beyond their little environment of just being a campus. It stretches all the way around the region. They are the aquatic hub of northeastern Ontario, and it’s been felt the last four years.”

The Laurentian club has been forced to use the City of Greater Sudbury’s 25-metre pools since their home pool’s closure. 

Although Henze said he appreciates that the city has almost bent over backwards to fit in the club’s programming, those pools aren’t really suited to competitive swimming, being too small, too warm and lacking starting blocks.

“It’s been debilitating for us as a club, but as importantly, the region is starting to feel it,” he said. “All of the programs in the region now have to travel a lot further and more often into Southern Ontario or to the Ottawa area to get to a long-course pool. 

“It's starting to show. Our quality of swimming in the region, I think, is starting to suffer because of it.”

With Laurentian out of insolvency for some time now, he said it’s all the more important to highlight the pool’s importance “instead of the concept of potentially mothballing, which my understanding is not going to happen. The board of governors is pretty committed to getting that pool open.”

Henze said he hopes the City of Greater Sudbury, whose own pools are aging, will be willing to chip in some money to revamp the Laurentian pool. “It's going to be a heck of a lot cheaper to do that then build a brand new pool,” he said.

Given Laurentian is currently in its budgeting process, and it seems to be getting some final answers from its consultants, Henze said it seems the timing is right.

The swim coach guesses repair costs could range from $400,000 up to $6 million. If minimal repairs are needed, the work could be done as soon as next fall, but if the needs are more extensive, it could be more like 18 months.

“So it's going to just be a matter of how much money they're willing to spend on the facility to get it open and potentially look for partners to help out with those costs,” he said.

Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.