Keira Druck, a 13-year-old Apopka native, finished fifth overall in an open-water mile swim at Doc Lucky’s Golden Mile in Orlando last week.
Druck collected prize money, a medal and more while continuing to improve as the long course season, her bread and butter, approached.
Druck had a fantastic outing at The Golden Mile, finishing fifth out of 229 competitors and first overall in the women’s division. With a time of just under 19 minutes, 18:53:53, she shattered the 13-14 age group record time. Druck was the only woman to finish in the top 10. The five men who finished after her were all older than Druck, between the ages of 14 and 18.
Druck said when she finished fifth ahead of so many, including men who were older and seemingly stronger than her, her other competitors were shocked to see her. She said they were looking at her with shock and awe. They couldn’t believe she finished ahead of them.
She impressed the crowd as well.
“One dude that finished behind me came up from the water and looked at me like I was crazy,” Druck said. “Then I looked over, and people (in the crowd) were waving at me, and I looked around and behind me, thinking they were waving at someone. But there was no one standing behind me. I did not know who that was waving at me.”
The Golden Mile is a one-mile open-water fundraising event in which over 200 people between the ages of 10 and 74 compete. The event benefits the Lake Crane Restoration Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the environmental quality of Lake Cane in Orlando.
With her 18:53:53 finish, Druck earned $1,000 as the first overall female competitor, an award, flowers and some merchandise. She was also allowed to leave her name signed on a door for first-time swimmers in the event.
Druck prefers the pool and is not traditionally an open-water swimmer, but she has recently had the opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone and attack the open water.
She said she has been doing it not only to try new things but also to prepare for the pool season that was quickly approaching.
Open-water swimming has more distractions and disturbances in the water and can be much harder to swim through than a pool, depending on the conditions. Druck believes her time doing open-water races has improved her stamina and overall technique for the long-course pool season.
“All this time in the open water made me feel like the mile was shorter,” Druck said. “I think the open water is helping with that. I went really fast. So I feel like when I do distance now (in the pool), I don’t have to be slow to save energy. I can be faster. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been as tired in races. Even when I do really well, I can still go fast near the end of the race.”
In the long-course season, Druck will race 400, 800, and 1500-meter races, which are all shorter than a mile. So, Druck’s preparation should allow her to see a big improvement in her times. Druck told me she hasn’t swam a mile in a pool in over a year, so she hasn’t seen her improvement yet, but she will very soon.
This week started Druck’s pool season, as she competed in a meet that began Thursday and will end Sunday. This would have been her first mile race in a year, and her time will be very important for her seeding in the state championships, as it will be the only mile race she competes in before state.
Druck said her goal time for her pool mile is under 17 minutes, which would put her right where she needs to be. She also said that this meet will be a great opportunity to prepare for the state championship, because they will run very similarly. It starts with preliminary races in the morning, followed by the final races each night.
“It’s like swimming all the time in the morning and at night,” Druck’s mother Kristin said. “That’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And then she’ll have three or four weeks of training, tapering, and then we go to state.”
Druck will have just a few weeks before state after this competition to prepare and train, and she won’t even know the final seeding of the tournament until days before. Her goal is to be seeded in the top five, but she would really like to sit at third.
