This year's Ted Simpson recipient has had quite the swim journey in her life. Victoria Wallace, a member of the Coast Swim Team, has been a competitive swimmer since childhood. Although she took some breaks as an adult due to life changes and surgery, swimming was always her love. In 2022, she was diagnosed with a genetic mutation in 2 genes, requiring her to have open heart bypass surgery to address significant blocks, one at 70% and one at 50% in 2 of her coronary arteries. Her story about her early swimming career, move to Canada as an adult, COVID, her return to competitive swimming, recovery from surgery, and commitment to the sport are remarkable for her focus, dedication, internal drive, and gratitude to those who guided and supported her.

Victoria grew up in the Kamchatka area of Russia and came to Canada in 2005 when she was in her mid-30s. She got involved in a number of activities as she moved around the Lower Mainland — weight training, yoga, and aerobic and strength training — eventually finding her way back to swimming. As many of us did during COVID, Victoria found new friends in open water swimming at Sasamat Lake. As pools reopened, Victoria began competing in pool races as well as open water.

Early in 2022, her cholesterol levels came back significantly raised on a routine blood test. Subsequent tests were negative, until she had an ultrasound of her heart, CT and angiogram that showed she had life-threatening blockages in 2 coronary arteries, one at 70% and one at 50%. Because of the severity of the blockages, she couldn’t get stents put in and had open heart bypass surgery in November of 2022. Victoria reports that her surgeon said she survived because of her fitness. She spent 5 days in St. Paul’s Hospital ICU and recovered at home for 3 months. Important to Victoria, Stewart kept her spot in the Sunday morning masters’ group open for her return.

On February 13, 2023, she had a treadmill stress test, and her cardiologist gave her the go-ahead to swim, as long as she kept her heart rate under 148. The next day, on February 14, 2023, she was in the pool with her Form Goggles on to track her heart rate during her swims. Always disciplined and focused, Victoria again showed her strength, resolve and determination, while managing any risks.

In March 2023, she turned 55. She started a tradition of swimming as many as 100s as her age. To keep her heart rate down, it took her two hours in the pool to complete the distance. In October 2023, her cardiologist gave the big thumbs up. In 2024, Victoria swam the 12K Skaha Lake swim and continued to compete in open-water races. She has also been very successful in the pool, including her recent win of the Triple Crown (200, 400, and 800 IM) at the February Vernon meet. She credits many Lower Mainland coaches and friends for their contributions to her successful return to competitive swimming.

Our 2026 Stan Powell recipient has served in a number of roles for MSABC over the years. Most recently, Rob was behind the electronics desk at Provincials. Rob was also very active both at the electronics desk and behind the scenes for many of our 2025-26 meets (EBSC, North Shore, Victoria, Chilliwack . . .). Because REMS was not up and running for meet entry this season, participants signed up through Google Sheets, which then needed to be transferred to the Hy-Tek meet management software. We appreciate the many hours Rob put in to assist with this process.

This season, Rob was also Meet Manager for the successful Ottermania event hosted by the Winskill Masters, where he and his crew of volunteers ran the highly-anticipated Lower Mainland Long Course meet in the fall. Every meet relies on key people behind the scenes to plan and put on successful swim meets. Meet Managers need to be organized multitaskers with an abundance of patience. Rob fills this role with integrity, dedication, and expertise.

Rob also brought us several streamed meets, including Provincials. This adds a touch of professionalism to our meets with streamed races — complete with team logos and swimmer names. This is quite an undertaking and has really contributed to the prestige of our MSABC meets.

Rob has taken on key roles in meet management across British Columbia and for Swimming Canada for several decades. Throughout the years, his many contributions to our sport have been acknowledged by UBC (Kay Brearley Service Award), Swim BC (President's Award), BC School Sports, and now MSABC.

Close to home, Rob has served as a mentor to volunteers behind the electronics desk and on the pool deck. He graciously (and again, VERY patiently) answers questions, helps problem-solve, and steps in wherever needed. As our Competition Director, Khosro Mansuri, puts it, "He makes me look good! Rob deserves many thanks for coming to the rescue at a moment's notice!"

Congratulations, Rob, on your well-deserved award and recognition of your many contributions to the swim community. We truly appreciate everything you do to

This year, we are honouring the many years of service that Julie Jones has given to MSABC. Early on in her swimming career, Julie swam with the Winskill Otters and was the Registrar for MSABC. When she stepped down from the Registrar position, Julie still wanted to contribute so she volunteered to keep track of the MSABC records. For several decades, Julie continued to keep our records updated, and ensured that they were posted to the MSABC website.

We greatly appreciate Julie's dedication in not only tracking the Provincial records, but also ensuring that the required paperwork for National and World Records was completed accurately and sent on to Swimming Canada and World Aquatics (formerly FINA) in a timely fashion. Many times, Julie needed to follow up with Meet Managers, coaches, and swimmers to obtain the proper signatures and verifications (pool length, official splits, etc) on the official forms. Julie also sent record certificates to swimmers celebrating their records. We honour Julie's dedication with this year's Builder Award.

This past season, Swim BC has been working on taking over the very time-consuming record-keeping task--in part so that the records can be automatically flagged during the meet using the Meet Manager software and then forwarded to Swimming Canada.