Gilles beaudin
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Gilles is in his 20th season with English Bay Swim Club having joined the club in 1998. Arriving in Vancouver in 1982, he swam with the UBC Masters for 10yrs before switching over to play water-polo with the now defunct English Bay Polo Club. By 1998, he was ready to get back into organized competitive swimming and found his place within EBSC.
He wasn’t always keen on swimming, having failed his Red Cross Beginners 3 times! But at the age of 11 a friend of his in Greenwood N.S. suggested going to see a ‘swim meet’ .. thinking that it would be people ‘running’ through water, Gilles agreed to go and WOW! - what he witnessed blew him away and within a year he had passed his Beginners, Juniors & Intermediates (he was still too young to do his Seniors) and joined the Greenwood Dolphins the following year. Swimming has been his passion ever since! Gilles has had his share of Club, Provincial & National Records but a shoulder injury 4yrs ago curtailed that level of competition for him but not his passion & enjoyment of the sport. Always wanting to give back to this amazing team, he put his name forward last year for the Co-coordinator position and was voted in for a 2 year term. Gilles hopes to help the team continue to grow & evolve but in such a way as to not forget it’s history & place in Vancouver’s LGBT2Q* Community. Gilles was an Elementary School Teacher in French Immersion his first few years in Vancouver before switching professions and becoming a Travel Agent. |
Bryan illiscupidez
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Bryan Iliscupidez is enjoying his third season with English Bay. At the age of 10, he began noncompetitive swimming at the Red Deer Catalina Swim club in Alberta. Following that first year, Bryan earned a spot from Regionals to Provincials by the end of the full season. The only issue was with breaststroke being his predominant stroke, having been faster than his freestyle times.
Bryan completed his final year as a club swimmer at age 17, making a provincial team to swim at the North American Challenge Cup in LA, and wrapped up his competitive history at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Trials. While he was completing his Bachelor’s Degree at Red Deer College, Bryan kept coaching for the Red Deer Catalina Swim club. This reimagined his love for the sport through team spirit and achievements from his swimmers. Bryan is looking forward to coaching part- time for his third season with EBSC. Taking on more responsibilities as Co-Coordinator for EBSC & second term as Registrar for MSABC, he is looking for other ways to help the club be more enjoyable through MSABC’s slogan, “Fun, Friendship & Fitness for Life”. “I am looking forward to swimming with our membership and getting to know everyone as a fellow athlete.” |
Suyang duan
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Suyang Duan is in his fifth season as a member of English Bay Swim Club. He started swimming with the club in July of 2014. He first learned to swim breaststroke at the age of 6. For the longest time, swimming was not his main activity when at the local pool during the summer -- there were always more important things to do. Such as trying to beat his friends in holding breath underwater, playing hide and seek in the pool (imagine a pool on a hot summer day in China), jumping off the 3m diving board with all not-so-streamlined-that-really-hurts poses.
Suyang moved to Vancouver in 2011. During his school time at UBC, he was smart enough to figure out that for each swim that he did for free as a student, he was saving money, or earning depending on how you see it, and could potentially earn his tuition back. That has been the only incentive for him to swim almost everyday while he was still with UBC. He used to be good with kicking when he had bigger fins until he lost one in Waipio, on the big island of Hawaii while trying body-surfing in waves like washing machine. He's been trying to find a new specialty ever since. Suyang is currently working as a software engineer. He enjoys cycling, Bikram yoga and XC skiing. |
Tim smith
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Tim Smith is in his second season as a member of EBSC.
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Christian meneses
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Christian Menese has been with the club for many years...
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Nick duprey
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Nick Duprey is in his forth season as a member of English Bay Swim Club. Before moving to Vancouver in 2016 he swam with the Ebbtide Masters swim club in Nanaimo. Nick came to swimming later in life having played a lot of competitive water polo in his youth he had a long gap before finding the pool again in his later twenties, this time chasing lines. Returning to the pool began as a fun way to stay fit and meet new people, now it is also a fun way to compete and set short term and long term goals.
Last year Nick swam in his first open water swim race and has since fallen in love with the sport. This year he is taking on the challenge of trying to win the Global Swim Series and so far is having a blast traveling and competing around the world. While still an avid pool swimmer he is also looking forward to his new role on the EBSC executive as the Meets Coordinator. Look for him on deck announcing upcoming meets and feel free to ask him any meet related questions you might have! |
Keith adams
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Keith Adams is in his second season as a member of EBSC. Keith started his swim journey by taking swimming lessons as a young child and then later advanced to racing on teams. He swam competitively through high school, but focused less on the speed and more on recreation after graduating.
A few years ago Keith started swimming with UBC Masters and soon resumed embracing his inner competitor when he began participating in Masters swim meets. He brings lots of enthusiasm with him, wherever he goes and hopes to do so for EBSC through organizing the club's many marquee social events. |
Amelie ha
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Amélie Ha is in her fourth year as a member of EBSC and is very excited to join the Executive Committee as the Communications Coordinator! She is probably most well known for eating copious amounts of junk food before practice, and then complaining that she’s dying after every set.
Amélie had developed a fear of water after a near drowning event when she was 13 years old so she didn’t learn to swim until she was an adult. Instead, she became a figure skater (because she can’t drown on ice). Unfortunately, that came to an end many years later due to injury, but also having to choose between figure skating (very expensive! And more injuries!), or going back to school (also very expensive). Well, in the end, she picked school over skating, but her love for a challenge never died; so she decided she was going to learn to swim so she could participate in triathlons (arguably less expensive). After months of private swimming sessions, focusing on confidence and technique, her first major milestone was swimming 400m without stopping! In 2013, her coach encouraged her to compete in her first swim meet ‘just for fun’. Well, if you know Amélie, she doesn’t do anything ‘just for fun,’ and thus has been racing ever since! Her favourite events are 50m sprints and 100IM. She is hoping to add the 200 IM event for the 2019-2020 season. |
Laura-lee findlater
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Laura joined EBSC in 2002 and has been an active member ever since. She was first drawn to the club for its civilized workout times, but the instant comradery and challenging workouts kept her coming back.
Laura grew up swimming her parent’s back yard pool and took the Red Cross swimming lessons on her mom’s insistence. She swam a couple of seasons with her high school swim team and continued to swim on her own for fitness in university. Laura joined EBSC as a fitness swimmer and found it to be a great way to relieve stress and a perfect companion to her other favorite activity – eating dessert. She has started attending masters swimming meets more frequently in the last few years, competing at Provincials for the first time in 2018, 16 years after she joined. Laura enjoys swimming in the ocean in the summer and impersonates a cross-country skier in the winter. She works in environmental consulting for the mining industry which has taken her to far flung places in BC, the Yukon and abroad. |
