The Legend of 26.5

Did you know the largest recorded crater created by an iron meteorite is 26.5 meters wide?

Nope, it didn’t crash in Fitchburg and forge the hole that is now Seminole Pool. But we are 26.5 meters long, and no one knows exactly why.

One legend is that the designers just made a colossal mistake. Another has it that the construction team realized at the 11th hour that the depth of the diving well didn’t meet standards for the length of the hopper and added another 1.5 meters just to be safe. Our favorite guess is that the pool lanes were supposed to go the perpendicular direction, so no one cared about the length of our current lanes. But then the designers didn’t make those lanes deep enough for starts and turns. Double design #fail.

While we’re fond of our odd-duck size at Seminole, we did investigate options for getting ourselves to a standard size to host All City 2016. New construction was not possible, and a bulkhead structure was outrageously expensive, with a cost surpassing what we hope to earn from hosting All City. Even more importantly, a temporary structure like that was difficult — if not impossible — to insure, we were told.

So 26.5 it is!

How can swimmers best prepare? Our extra 1.5 meters is about 5 feet. So plan for about a body length of extra swimming on each length of your swim. We also hired programmers to create a conversion app for your iPhone or Android, so you can enter your yard or meter times and get them converted to Seminole Time. Download for free from the

• iTunes App Store (for iPhone)
• Google Play Store (for Android)

Most importantly, be prepared for a lot of cheering of broken records. The last time All City had championship meet records in Seminole Time, it was 2004. We’re expecting lots of record crushing. You can find those numbers, as well as our current pool records, here.

We’re thrilled to be part of the All-City League and host the big meet. It’s going to be 26.5 tons of fun!