"Time is a gift and you'd better use it right!"

Black and Decker is no longer in Brockville, Ontario. Park Davis Pharmaceutical has also left the small city on the St. Lawrence River.

But Doris McEwan, 82, remains, still swimming and breaking Ontario, Canadian and world records, as she has in the past two millennium.

Take the Second Annual Almost Serious Swim meet January 15, 2006 in Brockville.

McEwan swam five events then, set a new Ontario record of 2 minutes 21 seconds for women 80-84 in the 100m breaststroke. She broke her own record.

"I was totally exhausted," she says. But she's happy with the record and no wonder. She currently holds five national records in the women's 80-84 age group and the world record in the 100-m individual medley, with a time of 2:02.30.

Swimming has been the "driving force" of her life. Born in England, she began swimming at age 3, but doesn't remember learning. She swam twice a day, qualifying for the British Junior team. In 1941, she joined the Navy during World War II serving as a signalman and swimming with the Naval team. Her mother was killed in 1942 during bombing raids. When peace returned, so did the Olympics; McEwan swam in London 1948 Games.

While the excessive sponsorship and hype was not present then as it is with the current Olympics, the excitement was just the same as it is today, she says. "It doesn't matter what year, the spirit is the same. There energy is there. It's (about) energy."

But as England rebuilt itself after the war, the atmosphere was unsettling, even disturbing, she says. She and her then husband Ben Lycett were ready to immigrate. The Canadian government came overseas recruiting. Within a month they had moved to Ottawa. Looking around at all its resources, she believed Canada was going to be the number one country in the world, she says.

Eventually she settled in Brockville, working with the General Supply Company which helped support the Distance Early Warning (DEW) Line. She has two children, Paul Lycett and Tia McEwan.

While there is a 30 year gap in her competitive career, she is adamant that she was still swimming, that there was always water around. Her large back yard pool became a swimming hole for many neighbourhood children.

When the Thousand Islands Masters were formed in 1986, she joined in early in 1987, swam at the Nationals in Etobicoke, and set a 200m backstroke Canadian record.

"I can assure you I was the most surprised."

But not really. Her competitive energy is indefatigable. Not to mention the way she tackles every day things. It's almost frightening how much she has on the go.

She swims six days a week. She works with her local cancer society and volunteers at the YMCA. Until this year, she worked with the Special Olympics swim team for 17 years, growing that club from three swimmers to 25. Five athletes won medals at the 2004 Provincials and two male swimmers are heading to Nationals this June.

For the past 12 years, she's been singing and playing keyboards with The "Off Beats" a show band that sings classic show tunes. They entertain upward of three times a week, over 50 shows a year, plus rehearsals.

She has raced dragonboat, triathlons and done relays for life. She bottles her own wine. Fridays, she cleans her house. There is usually chocolate cake in the fridge. "It's busy but uncomplicated because I have a schedule. I'm not hard and tight on this. But my day starts with a swim."

Not even uterine cancer in 1988 stopped her. She even managed to book her surgery to remove the cancer after her Nationals. "I had one of the best nationals I ever had because of that." She was lucky that the cancer was contained and she did not have to undergo chemotherapy, she says. Five weeks after surgery, she was cleared to pick up her life again.

"The cancer pulled me up short but I came up fine. It taught me if you can't climb over or go through (an obstacle) you have to do a detour and go around."

She plans to compete in the Ontario championships at the end of March, skip nationals, and then swim at the World Championships in Stanford in August. "I live (for) today," she says. "It's incredible to think that the shoulders still work."

Quick Facts

Club? Brockville Independent Masters.
Family status? Single, two grown children.
Number of years swimming? 77 years.
Favourite Stroke? Backstroke.
Least Favourite? Fly (I wish I could love it).
Top 3 reasons to love masters swimming? Positive people, exhilarating, water "Friendly."
Other favourite sports? Cycling, kayaking, canoeing, snorkeling, sailing a Laser, snowshoeing.
Favourite after sport food or drink? Tim Hortons!!!
Current reading? Fiction, "Remember" by Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Motivational Tip? "Remember, time is a gift - use it well."

Song or Music playing in your head in workout?

The "Waltz," when doing drills, or, "The Saints" to pick up the pace.