Lust captures national medals

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Not all dreams get accomplished before retirement. It took Susan Lust 70 years of work to finally accomplish hers. Now, she has returned home and can brag about being one of the fastest swimmers in the country.
After cleaning up in the Albert 55+ Provincials last summer in Calgary, Lust recently represented Team Alberta at the Canada 55+ Summer Games in Saint John, N.B.
“What an amazing week. I never imagined I would be swimming still at 70, and to win these medals – bonus,” said Lust. “What is good for me is the swimming and exercise, along with the camaraderie and friendship with all the other athletes. It was really a great weekend.”
As a swimmer, Lust lined up in the 50-metre (m) freestyle, the 50m backstroke and the 100m free.
The weekend didn’t start so great for the local product, as she placed fifth in the 50m free Aug. 22, with a time of 51.80 seconds, well back of the hometown winner Juanita Prebble.
Each race consisted of one heat, with the three fastest times earning medals; so, Lust wasn’t wiped from a series of qualifying races and could crank it up later in the week.
Lust showed that her two years of hard work paid off when she claimed bronze the following day in the 100m free in 1:53.18.
“I finished so far back of the other swimmers, I didn’t think I won anything, so I left the pool right away. Someone had to come running after me to give me my medal. I ended up missing the medal ceremony altogether,” said Lust, who placed nearly 10 seconds back of Alberta teammate Darlene Swan.
On the final day of her competition, Lust missed out on gold by less than half a second, as she won bronze again in the 50m backstroke in 53.03 seconds.
Once again, Lust missed the medal presentation because she had to catch the final ferry that afternoon to visit friends in Nova Scotia.
“It feels terrific to see all the work I put in pay off,” said Lust.
She was scheduled to compete in one more event, but the contestants for the 200m freestyle relay were thrown together at the last minute and Lust had already left town to meet up with some former Strathmore residents who now call the east coast home.
“It would have been nice to stick around for one more race, but we also wanted to do some sightseeing and visit some friends while we were out there,” said Lust.
If the relay team had given Lust more notice, she would have had to pack a gold medal in her suitcase for the return trip, as Team Alberta took the gold over Team Yukon by 10 seconds, adding to their smashing total at the games.
With every event in the books, Alberta hauled in the most medals with 895, 18 more than host New Brunswick and Team Nova Scotia. Alberta also captured the most gold (48), tied Nova Scotia for the most silver (28.5) and their 13 bronzes placed them fifth.
“It was also great to see how well Alberta did,” said Lust. “We really kicked butt.”
Even at the age of 70 and having conquered the nation, Lust isn’t ready to call it quits yet. She already has her sights set on the Alberta 55+ Provincials next summer in Medicine Hat, in what she hopes will be a special occasion.
“I was part of the first swim team back in the fall of 1963-64,” said Lust. “We are going to try and get the old swim team together again to catch up. It should be really fun.”
Proving once again that race results are only secondary for her these days.