1-Hour Swimmers Set Records at GMCF

GMCF’s swimming community came together on Saturday for an annual event — the 1-Hour Swim Challenge. Hosted by GMCF as part of the national USMS 1-Hour Virtual Championships, this event has become a key piece of GMCF Aquatics’ program offerings in recent years. Masters swimmers trained over two months in the lead-up to the event, building stamina in their weekly class workouts at GMCF and developing their technique, so that they were prepared to take on the formidable challenge of swimming for a full hour. With 20 swimmers registered for the event, 2026 saw the largest 1-Hour event that GMCF has yet hosted, and multiple records were set:

• Record number of registrations
• Record number of volunteers, including several from GMCF ENDURANCE
• Record number of swimmers in the water
• New pool record set for max yards in 1 hour (Chris McLernon — 4475!)

Many swimmers took on the challenge just to see what they could do, and for the camaraderie and mutual support of the others in the group. Swimmers in the Official division can upload their results to the USMS website and compare their performance to other swimmers from across the entire country.

Many thanks to Central Vermont Runners for loaning GMCF extra timing devices!