09/29/2026
SwimBowen retired director and volunteer Debbie Collingwood is being featured in this upcoming documentary...how marvelous! Congratulations Debbie!
A Vancouver filmmaker is turning one remarkable local woman’s story into a new three-part docuseries and it’s about much more than swimming.
Sarah Reader’s “I AM an Athlete” follows Vancouver-area swimmer Debbie Collingwood, one of only about 400 people worldwide to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
That means swimming the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan more than 100 km of extremely demanding open-water swimming combined.
But here’s the part that caught the filmmaker’s attention: Debbie still struggles to see herself as an athlete.
Reader met Debbie while camping and watched her casually swim out into freezing ocean water, seemingly without making a big deal about it.
That moment eventually inspired Reader to tell Debbie’s story including how age, body image and our own perception of ourselves can shape what we believe we're capable of.
The three-part series is now in production, with completion planned for December 2027. Reader received $20,000 in TELUS STORYHIVE funding to help produce the project.
Sometimes we’re capable of things we never give ourselves credit for.
Do you think someone can be an athlete even if they don’t see themselves that way?
