From splash to dash: The Fastlane® is launched in Philadelphia

by Jay Prasuhn
May 20, 2005

The Fastlane works with an existing pool, and two can even swim side by side.

Endless Pool debuts the Fastlane, transforming conventional swimming pools into swim training venues. Plus, a course preview for the inaugural Philadelphia Triathlon

How many of us have faked a swim in the backyard kidney-shaped pool out of simple necessity; six strokes, flip turn … six strokes, open turn (to avoid kicking the diving board) … six strokes, flip turn, watch out for the steps.

The team at Endless Pools just had Triathlete out to their offices and factory in the Philadelphia suburbs to the official launch of a new product that they considered to be revolutionary: the Fastlane.

Revolutionary truly is an appropriate word to describe the Fastlane. By now most triathletes are attuned to the benefits that an Endless Pools pool provides: the large swim basin with a motor-driven prop mounted at the front provides a smooth current of water, with benches on the sides re-circulating water from the back of the pool back to the prop at the front for an endless flow of water.

For a large (and very different) segment of the company’s market, it’s a great physical therapy tool for those with rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. And for triathletes it’s a no-brainer, offering a convenient, readily accessible training tool. Plus you are able to get instant stroke feedback via the mirror set in the pool’s bottom.

And of course, no flip turns (I hear ya … I hate water up the nostrils too).

The hitch? A hefty price tag ($18,000 to $21,000) that rules out such an item for many of us. The best we can do is to befriend the guy down the street with one or, if rebuffed, try to sneak in for a midnight training session (emphasizing quiet hand entry after picklocked gate entry).

Well, an Endless Pool just got a lot more affordable and a lot more realistic. The Fastlane, the brainchild of Endless Pools founder James Murdock, is the answer to the question, “Can I ever get an Endless Pools motor into my backyard pool?” It launched Tuesday at the Endless Pools offices and factory in Aston, Pennsylvania. We tested the first units at Villanova University in an indoor lap pool setting, then at the home of Endless Pools marketing manager Dave O’Brian in what we found to be the most applicable and realistic setting: a backyard pool.

Yes, you can train on your clock like with existing Endless Pools, but instead of being holed up in a basement-installed pool, you’re getting in a workout while your kids can splash around you playing Marco Polo.

A dinner plate-sized propeller draws water upward into finger- and hand-proof (and leaf- and pool toy-proof) grills at the unit’s base, gently and smoothly drawing water from below. Using the same principles used in any wind tunnel, the water is then driven upward toward the water’s surface through the prop by a hydraulic vegetable oil pump (meaning no HazMat), then it is redirected through a honeycomb grill (for even distribution) into a horizontal flow of water. Voila, an endless river of water, in your pool. Without the constraints of a narrow pool, two swimmers can swim side by side as the flow path widens as distance from the unit increases. Once shown, we were blown away by the simplicity of the unit. Swimming side by side with local SBR Mutisport triathlon team (www.sbrshop.com) elite and Bike Line bike shop manager Rick Slifkin was an experience as well, one that could help landlocked athletes prep for an open-water race. (Thanks, Rick, for not swimming over the top of me for “practice.”)

When done, a Fastlane owner can remove the unit from a singular fixed mount point on the deck, pull the light unit up to the deck and wheel it on attached wheels away for storage. Upgrades will be available including programmability to create interval sets as well as provide time and pace settings.

Murdock was understandably excited. “Do we know how it’s going to be received? We don’t know. Hopefully well. With millions of pools in America, we hope it’s well received.” For the existing pool owner the groundwork is laid. For those digging in the backyard, they can create a pool with a “swimlane” section. The Fastlane will work for anyone with a pool of at least 200 square feet, “which is a pretty small pool,” Murdock notes.

Wondering if you can out-swim the current on the Fastlane? Good luck. With it at full blast, the best we could do was crawl up to it at about a 57-second-per-100 pace. Unless your name is Michael Phelps or even Jan Sibbersen, that’s well over what you’ll need for your ego. The standard unit has a five-horsepower motor and a top-end speed of about 1:05 pace, with a high-performance unit sporting a six-horsepower prop with that sub-minute 100-yard top end.

Longtime Ironman veteran Ken Glah came out from his West Chester home to get some time in front of the Fastlane for the first time before heading off to Brazil to organize a crew of athletes signed up in his Endurance Sports Travel agency for this weekend’s Ironman Brazil, and marveled at not only the speed but also at the fact he wasn’t training in his dungeon but rather in a conventional swimming pool. As a parent to daughter Reanin, it’s something he and wife Jan Wanklyn see true value in.

Price? $5,900*, with a $700* upgrade for the high-performance version. It puts a long-yearned-for product within reach of a few more folks. Not only would we guess pool-owning triathletes and swimmers to be game for the Fastlane, but tri clubs and coaches could work one into club dues as it makes a good training tool, allowing a coach to conduct real-time stroke analysis from the deck.

*Pricing as of May 2005

>>Next