[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/GeurtsCole_Carla.jpg” caption=”Carla Geurts-Cole. Photo: Joy Cummings”]Carla Geurts-Cole has won a silver medal in the Women's 200-Meter Obstacle Swim at the Rescue 2006 World Life Saving Championship in Austraila. The obstacle swim took place in a 50-metre olympic-sized pool with a requirement of diving 6 feet below the water at both the 10 and 40 metre marks. This was repeated four times to cover the 200-metre distance. Geurts-Cole's time of of 2 min 11.67 seconds set a new Canadian record and was faster than the previous world record.

Geurts-Cole is a former olympian swimmer who has competed in four Olympic finals in both Atlanta and Sydney, representing her homeland, the Netherlands.

Geurts-Cole trains every morning at 4 a.m., is a full-time lab co-ordinator and coaches a junior swim team in Hamilton. She presently works for McMaster's anatomy department as well as the pool and with her husband, Andrew Cole, head coach of the Marauders varsity swim teams.