Sportsman’s Notebook South Island Swimming Titles Tomorrow

Press, Volume C, Issue 29691, 8 December 1961, Page 9

Sportsman’s Notebook South Island Swimming Titles Tomorrow

The South Island swimming championships are likely to play no small part in helping to raise the standard at the sport in the Dominion in this and future seasons. Last year’s meeting. held on a trial basis, proved a worth-while experiment and this year’s championships, to be held at the Centennial Pool tomorrow night, have the official blessing of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. Winners at events will be designated South Island champions and a proposal to award them medals in forthcoming seasons is being investigated. All seven South Island centres pledged their support at the championship scheme during the annual meeting at the national body in October and have honoured their pledges by selecting the best swimmers at their command to participate in tomorrow’s meeting. Among those competing will be J. McGuinness (Otago), M. Hay, G. Johnson and G. Stringer (Canterbury), and Misses J. Ray (West Coast), S. Nicholson (Canterbury), L. Baker, J. Kennedy. H. Mclntosh. P. Skow (Southland). R. Dunlop and G. Brown (Otago), all of whom have held New Zealand records or won national titles. Canterbury’s team will be led by G. Eknsly and R. Blair, two accomplished senior swimmers who swam exceedingly well at the Spreydon club’s carnival last Saturday. Misses C. Hopper (breaststroke) and S. Pitama (backstroke) are two others whose chances of success are bright. On current form the team’s junior sextet of M Gould. A. Harrow, J. Hay and Misses L. Cox, W. Dale and R. George should prove dominant in their section of the programme The Otago team will lean heavily on its three former national champions, McGuiness. Miss Dunlop and Miss Brown, although the allrounder, L. Olds, can still give a good account of himself and L Brown (junior boys’ backstroke) is an improver. As was the case last year, Southland should fare well in the women's events. Misses Skow and Mclntosh (butterfly) are able and experienced championship swimmers and the Kennedy sisters have been prominent in backstroke for the last two or three seasons. The breaststroke swimmer. Miss Baker, has broken two national under-14 records already this season and a newcomer, 12-year-old Miss R. Johnston, has great freestyle potential. The smallest centre, Ashburton, will make a bold showing with a team of eight swimmers, the most notable of whom is M. Major, a first year senior in breaststroke and a national junior finalist last season. South Canterbury will send three freestylers and two backstroke competitors, while Nelson-Marlborough’s team of 12 contains three who have reached national championship finals: N. McFeedries and Miss R. Barnett (both backstroke) and T. W ooster (breaststroke). The triple New Zealand junior girls’ freestyle champion, Miss Ray, will head the West Coast contingent. Others in the side are two national breaststroke finalists, Misses V. King and F. Brown, and K. Dixon, a seasoned freestyle swimmer. At last year’s South Island meeting he was third in the men’s 110 yd event. « * * Surfing Visit An indication of the interest in surf life-saving in the i Greymouth area hae, been shown by the desire of the Kotuku club to send a team of younger members to the first carnival at New Brighton on December 17. Sixteen members, including one woman, will be present local clubs undertaking the billetting of the visitors. Leading the party will be Mr R. Barnes, of Greymouth, who has struggled for many | years to establish surf lifesaving on the Coast The Kotuku club was formed by him just over 12 months ago and he has primarily been instrumental in bringing it to its present status. The main reason tor bring- : ing the team over is to en- ; able members to gain a more

up-to-date knowledge of lifesaving techniques as presen: practiced. Before World War n there was a regular exchange of visits by Canterbury aod West Coast dubs but due to the call by the services this practice was dropped and very few have eventuated since then. * ♦ * Invitation Accepted One of New Zealand’s best-knowm swimmers of the post-war era. Miss L. Norman, the national women’s backstroke champion, has accepted an invitation from the Canterbury Swimming Centre to compete in the Dawn Fraser carnival at the Centennial Pool next Wednesday. Miss Norman is at present resident in Nelson, her home city, but has retained her Auckland status.

She hopes to represent Auckland at this season’s national championships in February. Since the retirement of Miss P. Gould, Miss Norman has been the country’s leading woman backstroke swimmer. She has represented New Zealand in Australia but although nominated for a place in the Rome Olympic Games team, did not gain selection. Hers was the only swimming nomination to go before the selectors. The prominent West Coast breaststroke swimmer, Miss F. Brown, has also accepted a Canterbury centre invitation to compete at the carnival She will swim against Miss N. Shepherd, the South Australian junior who will accompany Miss Fraser on her tour of New Zealand. * » » Wharenui Lighting The last stage of the development project, at the Wharenui swimming pool, the provision of fluorescent lighting, will reach a satisfactory conclusion at a dub night next Thursday when the Mayor (Mr G. Manning) will perform an official switching-on ceremony. The lighting will be on all four sides of the pool and will give the finishing touch to the pool’s new appearance. Covered seating has been erected and is proving most satisfactory. * ¥ * Benefit To Tennis Tennis in Auckland has already had quite a remarkable season for practical gestures from prominent citizens. The latest is an offer from Mr Woolf Fisher to the Mount Wellington Borough Council of land for a tennis park and £BOOO to develop it. The council will build courts and a pavilion on the reserve provided by Mr Fisher and call it Fisher Park. Earlier in the season Mr J. A. Redwood gave £lO.OOO for the development of the Stanley street courts as a tennis stadium, and Mr James Pascoe bought the Clive road courts to ensure they would always be available for the Pascoe Cup competition for business firms. He gave the lease to the committee which runs the competition. No Comment.—A letter from the Christchurch meeting of the Society of Friends asking for the abolition of the system of school cadets at the Christchurch Boys' High School was received without comment at a meeting of the school’s board of goveneros.