VETERAN champion swimmer Bob Patterson has taken out gold, silver and bronze medals in a triumphant meet at the recent World Masters Swimming Championships in Singapore.
The Cleveland swimmer is club captain of Redlands Bayside Masters Swimming Club and one of the club’s coaches.
Patterson competed in the 50m events in all stokes and the 100m in his specialty, freestyle, taking out gold in the 50m freestyle.
He backed that win up with a silver medal in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m butterfly.
At 78, Patterson holds several Australian records for his age group.
“I am a sprinter, and I rely very much on technique,” he said.
“A lot of longer distance swimmers tend to just be fit. I’m reasonably fit, but I don’t have the level of fitness those swimmers have.
“When I was a teenager, I had a very good coach. He was years ahead of his time. He taught me to swim properly and that has remained with me.”
Patterson has been a member of the Redlands Bayside Masters Swimming Club since he moved to Cleveland from Melbourne six years ago and has swum in the Australian championships every year since joining Redlands and won most events.
In his younger years, Patterson won Victorian state championships in his late teens and has always been an active swimmer, only taking a break from the sport when he was posted overseas for work in developing countries where there were no pools.
“That was only temporary. As soon as I got back near a pool, I’d be back doing it again,” he said. “Swimming is something I’ve always done, and I’ve always been reasonably good at it and I just enjoy doing it.
“It was an amateur sport when I first started doing it. It is very different now.
“That’s one of the things I like about Masters swimming; it’s a bit of a throwback. The swimmers are all old amateurs like me, and it’s all run by volunteers.”
