Masters Swimming Records and Rankings in Canada
MSO is pleased to have received permission from Christian Berger to provide direct access to his Berger Records and Rankings from the MSO website. More importantly, the Berger “fastest Canadian swims” will now be reported in the MSO database, not as “national records” but as Berger Records.
Most Masters swimmers have heard of the Statsman, Christian Berger. He started voluntarily keeping both Quebec and Canadian swimming statistics when he first joined masters swimming in 1981. He became Quebec’s first swimming statistician in 1982. Later in 1985, he began compiling the “Canadian stats” following the resignation of Chris Pieczora of Etobicoke.
Over 37 years, on his own initiative, Christian has put out an eclectic array of information about Masters swimming in Canada. He has become the authoritative source for records and rankings, both current and historical. Swimmers turn to Christian’s statistics before any other source.
The direct link to the Berger Records and Rankings from the MSO database and website assures easy access and the continuity of comprehensive statistics for Masters swimming in Canada.
MSO members have asked, “Will my swims count?” Your swims have always counted and they will continue to be reflected in the Berger statistics.
Q&As
Q: Where can I find links to Christian Berger’s pages?
A: Go to the MSO database site at https://ms.mastersswimmingontario.ca/default.php and look for the Records and Rankings pull down tabs.
Q: What is the difference between Canadian records and the Berger Records?
A: Until September 2017, these were one and the same. However, there is no longer any national organization reporting results for all masters swimmers in Canada. Christian Berger continues to independently collect statistics from all meets, as he has done since 1981, irrespective of sanctioning organization. It is therefore appropriate to now call these the Berger Records.
Q: Why is MSO reporting on swims across Canada?
A: Many masters swimmers and clubs have asked about records and rankings. Both casual and focused competitors want to see their results in relation to their peers in other provinces. As of September 2017, the Berger Records and Rankings is now the only source of panCanadian masters swimming statistics. MSO is providing easy access to those statistics from its website and adding the fastest swims to the database after Christian Berger has processed them for his own Records and Rankings.
The MSO Record keeper will continue to process new Ontario records by MSO-members.
Q: I thought official Canadian masters records can only be set at events sanctioned by Swim Canada’s provincial sections?
A: Every organization sets its own policies. In fact, MSO’s policy is that only MSO-registered swimmers are eligible to set MSO Ontario records.
However, the Berger Records and Rankings are the only source of definitive, independent statistics that serve the masters swimming community as a whole, irrespective of organization. Christian Berger’s own statistics pre-date the incorporation of MSC (1993) and MSO (1989). His site has the most complete, continuous set of masters swimming records in Canada and it has survived many IT renewals and makeovers over the years.
Q: Do the Berger Records include Yard (SCY) records?
A: No. Christian only tracks SCM and LCM results.
SCY results and records are maintained only by MSO; they are Ontario records only. The MSO record-keeper will continue to process all Ontario SCY, SCM and LCM records set by MSO members.
Q: When will these changes be completed?
A: The direct links to the Berger Records and Rankings are now available from the MSO website. Updating the database to report Berger Records is work in progress and will be completed as soon as possible.
Q: What else is included in Christian Berger’s eclectic collection of information?
A: We put a summary of the Berger collection and links on the MSO website. https://www.mastersswimmingontario.ca/swim-meets/stats-ranking-records-guide/
There is lots to explore.
Click here for PDF version of this Post. 2018-04-11 News in Brief - Records Final