CHANNEL RACE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 262, 23 August 1950, Page 5

CHANNEL RACE

EGYPTIAN WINS £IOOO PRIZE EXISTING RECORD BROKEN (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 22. Hassan Abd El Rehim, the 41-year-old Egyptian swimming ace, *swam the Channel to-day in record time to win the “Daily Mail’s” £IOOO sterling international con. test. His unofficial time was 10 hours 52 minutes, against the record held by the Frenchman, George Michel, of 11 hours 5 minutes, established in 1926. Eighteen men and six women from 12 countries took part in the race. The “Daily Mail” offered £IOOO sterling to the first man and a similar sum to the first woman across, and £250 sterling to every swimmer who finished the course. Rehim, who is 17 stone, and thefather of six children, narrowly beat Roger Le Morvan, of France, who led until an hour from the end. Morvan (26) arrived 10 minutes after Rehim to take second place in better time than the old record. - Third was another Egyptian, Mareet Hassan Hamad, who arrived one hour 24 minutes after Rehim. Rehim is the first man to swim the Channel three times. He did the crossing once from France to England in 1948, and last year crossed from England to France. Rehim said he would spend his £IOOO on a launch to take his children boating on the Nile. It was Morvan’s first Channel swim, and he had had only one hour’s training in the sea before the attempt. Sharks Make Appearance Seven men and two women staggered ashore along the coast‘in the vicinity of Dover in the first mass Channelswimming event ever staged. A Greek, Pangiotis Kameros, was joined in his swim half-way across by a 15-foot shark. His seconds in a motor-boat snatched him from the water as the shark raced in to attack with three others, which were also showing more than an academic interest in the Greek’s efforts. Successful contestants were staggering ashore anywhere up and down a six-mile stretch of coastline for six hours and 26 minutes. Reporters had a hectic time cruising the waterfront in fast cars looking for interviews. The first woman arrival was an English Scripture teacher, the 21yearold Eileen Fenton. Those to finsh, and their times, were: Hassan Abd el Rehim (Egypt), lOhrs 52min; Roger Le Morvan (France) llhrs 2min; Mareet Hassan Hamad (Egypt) 12hrs lOmin; Sam Rockett (Britain) 14hrs 20min; William Barnie (Britain) 14hrs 50min; Eileen Fenton (Britain) 15hrs 31min: Jasen Zirganos (Greece) 16hrs 19min; Antonio Abertondo (Argentina) 16hrs 25min; Jenny Kammersgaard (Denmark) 16hrs 30min.