COOK STRAIT SWIM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1928, Page 12

COOK STRAIT SWIM.

AUCKLANDER'S VENTURE,

FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. ACCOMPANIED BY LAC^ CBj- Telegraph.—Press As*-Nation.) BLENHEIM, this dir. Ronald John Webster, the Auckland swimmer, left Picton in a launch .TSn o!clock this morning. He intended U land on a North Island beach about a am. and to attempt -to «wi*JV the South Island. He was in the launch by newspaper**!?* and others. Special arrangements £! been mado lor leeding £ im £ "J® water. W

Webster. who is twenty rears of >*. is a member of the Ponsonby mmg Club. He gained fastest time kaA fourth place in the three-mile champjf X 1 Zealand at

It was Webster's intention to swi™ from. Tory Channel Heads to the n<S point in the North Island, but suiting the Picton fishermen, who told him that strong tides would be met * that route, he changed his plan.

Best. Time Over Three Mil., ' Webster's best swim to date, however was mad? m the Annette Kellerman cS race, decided in the Auckland Harbour during January of last year. The r4< * held in conjunction -with the New Z«3 land Swimming Associations chamnion" ship tourney, was swum over a cour« between the Prince's wharf and th« Western wharf, the distance being tW miles. Weather conditions were perfect when the race started. Setting a stroS stroke irom the beginning, Webster «t once went out to overhaul the limit competitors, and passed everyone bnt the winner, T. Champion, of Canterbury, who had started 6m ahead of him" At the finish Webster sprinted stronciv and was quite fresh when he left the water. The times of the first three ewimmers were:—T. Champion (13m 30s), lh 31m 375, 1; R. Webster £ mm/V 3 _ gs) < C. B. Watson (Ilm), lh 31m us, 3. Webster's time in this race was easily the best. Of the fourteen starters, seven withdrew without covering the distance. c Fine Race at Dunedin. In the Kellerman Cup race at Dunedin ten days ago Webster again swam an | excellent race, and made the fastest time, being the fourth swimmer to finish. Th.e course, on this occasion, was a straight one, and conditions were again favourable. Webster started from scratch, and made a strong but unsuccessful effort to draw level with the competitors. _ The winner was lEm L. Copplestone, of Canterbury, who received.iam 30s start, her time being 11 3Sm 85. J. Enwright (Auckland) «u second (time lh 22m 2Ss), and W. G. Morpeth (Wellington) third (time' lh 50m 8s 1. Webster, the only scratch nu, occupied lh 22m 15s. ' A member of the Ponsonbr Swimming Club, Webster has as his best asgetsin easy stroke and great determination. His style,- the ordinary trudgeon, keeps kim <Rejß*©at of the water, and at first glance he does not impress. When he first started swimming in Auckland about -three years ago the critics were rather amused at his style, which is in no way -adapted for sprint swimming. For this reason he seldom enters for any of_his club's events. But in the sea„ under -almost any sort of condition?, he can more than hold his own with the best of the long-distance swimmers in New Zealand. A quiet, unassuming lad, he lives at Takapima, and does most of his practice off the beach. Right through last winter ha hardly missed a day without practice.

I NO NOVICE. PREVIOUS GOOD SWIMS. TWICE FASTEST TIME IN KELLERMAX CUP. | Although, perhaps, not as well known as other champions in Auckland, Kon Webster is no novice in long-distance swimming. It-was on March 27. 1926. that Webster "made himself known to followers of the sport by winning the Auckland Harbour -race for the Molloy Shield. Starting from the four-minute handicap, he set an easy stroke and won fairly easily from De Loree (2m 30?) and Beattie (2m 30s). His; time—22.4B 1-s—was the fastest for "the race. On this swim, which drew nineteen sorters, including two lady swimmers. Webster used a variety of strokes and never looked anything: but a winner, despite the fact that a moderate swell and a licnt wind made things rather difficult for the competitors, five of whom were forced to leave the water owing to cramp.

East year Webster again competed in the harbour swim, but was just beaten frj" C. R. Watson for the honour making the fastest time. IS started from seratch. and crossed the finishing line in fifth place after 27m 36= in the water, nearly five minutes longer than in the previous year's race. The winner, .Minnie Jepson. of Otago, started with a handicap of 4.30 and covered the 1-500 yards course from the Northcote wharf to the Shelly Beach baths in the good time of 28.55. Watson's tin® was 27.10. There were 43 starters.