A Vancouver filmmaker who was chosen by TELUS STORYHIVE to receive $20,000 in funding for production costs is producing a three-part docuseries on what it means to be an athlete.

Sarah Reader’s project, ‘I AM an Athlete’, follows Debbie Collingwood who is one of 400 people to have completed marathon swimming’s Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and yet still has trouble calling herself an athlete.

Reader met Collingwood during a camping trip where they were first introduced when she did something that astonished Reader.

“Before I knew it, Debbie had disappeared and she was a speck in the distance. She was visible because she had this luminous cap and buoy in the water and before I knew it she had come back. She had just gone out in the middle of the ocean, freezing cold water, and she did it like it was nothing,” recalls Reader of their first meeting.

Reader was taken with how little fanfare there was with Collingwood’s adventure in the middle of the camping hang out.

“She just did it without any fuss.”

It was this chance meeting that spurned Reader’s desire to know more about this mysterious spontaneous swimmer. 

The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming includes three difficult long-distance swims: the English Channel, which is a 33 km swim between England and France, the Catalina Channel, which is a 32.5 km swim between Catalina Island and the California mainland, and the 20 Bridges Swim, which is a 48.5 km circumnavigation around Manhattan Island in New York City.

While more than 7,500 people have climbed Mount Everest, only 400 people have completed the Triple Crown. Collingwood still has an issue with accepting that she is in fact an athlete.

Reader invited Collingwood out for coffee to learn her story, saying she was taken with learning of the achievements and the reluctance of taking on the label of athlete.

“When we went to coffee, she told me a story about how she had climbed up a big set of stairs with a colleague and when she got to the top of the stairs, this other person was really out of breath. The person commented to Debbie that she was completely fine. And they said ‘No, of course you’re not, you’re an athlete.’”

Collingwood said she was taken back by the comment. She is in her 50s and has never seen herself as an athlete.

“It was so sad that she’d never seen herself as an athlete when she has done these crazy athletic achievements. I just wanted her to believe that,” shared Reader.

“It’s so clear that she is, and I think that she’s always battled with her self-image and perception because she’s not the classic athletic mould.”

It was learning about Collingwood’s achievements and the reluctance that made Reader want to tell her story and maybe help convince her that she really is an athlete. 

“She’s doing such amazing things at this age, and I felt the story was about her proving to herself that she is an athlete.”

The docuseries spans three episodes that tell different parts of Collingwood’s story.

The first part explores the past and the present of Collingwood’s life and her training partner, Meyrick Jones.

The second part looks at the knowledge and history of the sport, and why older women thrive in it. 

“It’s an unusual spot in which women often outperform men and they also tend to peak at a much later age.”

The first two parts lead up to the third where the actual swimming itself is explored – what it has taken to get there and Collingwood’s journey.

Overall the hope from the docuseries is having Collingwood accept and celebrate that she is an athlete. 

“It’s a celebration of achievement and I feel like hopefully giving her the recognition that she deserves, and at a minimum that she can start to believe she is the athlete that she is.”

Reader also hopes that the docuseries inspires others that have felt held back to achieve things based on their age or body type.

The docuseries is just starting production with a due date of December 2027. 

This is Reader’s first solo project, having worked in film production for over a decade but never getting to do her own documentary.

“That I get to do a passion project for my first documentary is really exciting.”