Dalton Brothers Following In Fathers Footsteps

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30393, 18 March 1964, Page 15

Dalton Brothers Following In Fathers Footsteps

IF it is a rare honour for one member of a family to win a New Zealand championship in any sport then the combined achievements of the Dalton brothers, Rex and Don, must surely be regarded as feats of considerable proportions.

Both won individual titles at the New Zealand Surf Life-saving championships, recently concluded at Auckland. But what makes the Dalton family unique is the fact that the father of the two new champions, A. T. Dalton, is a former New Zealand surf champion. He was Canterbury’s outstanding beltman for more than a decade, winning the national title in 1936, 1937 and 1945.

The elder and more experienced of the two brothers, Rex, regained the national surf ski title which he held for the first time four seasons ago and Don, whose versatility is perhaps slightly wider, won the New Zealand paddleboard championship, his first national title. Both brothers are members of the North Beach surf club and Rex is its captain.

As might have been expected, Rex was slightly more outstanding than his brother in the national carnival just concluded. He only just missed gaining the coveted double when he was surprisingly beaten by another Canterbury compe-

titor, M. Stevens (Waimairi), in the final of the senior surf ski rescue championship. However, runnerup in a national championship is still no mean achievement.

Victory was again just snatched away when he was beaten into second place in the New Zealand beach sprint championship by J.

Staton (Muriwai). Nevertheless, this was an improvement, for he has gained third place in this event for the last three seasons. Next season may yet see this elusive title brought back to North Beach by Rex Dalton.

On the provincial scene, the pair have been just as outstanding in recent years. Rex has won the Canterbury surf ski title for five seasons in succession—a remarkable feat by any standard—and has been highly placed in surf ski rescue events and beach sprint championships. While still a junior, Don gained his representative colours for Canterbury and in 1961 won the junior surf ski and surf ski rescue titles. Last season he represented Canterbury as a senior at the Royal carnival and again this season at the interprovincial carnival. Don was runner-up to K. McDonald (Sumner), regarded as the leading paddle board exponent in the country, in the paddleboard event at the inter-provincial carnival and recently won his first senior Canterbury title when he narrowly de-

feated McDonald in his specialist event. However, it is only fair to point out that at the time McDonald was suffering from a bad foot injury, received while performing a rescue on Cave Rock, and was labouring under difficulties. The injury was bad enough to prevent him from attending the New Zealand championships. The Dalton family has had a long and illustrious association with the North Beach surf club, an association which has almost developed into a tradition. In the foreseeable future, the brothers should find little difficulty in upholding the very high standards set by their father in his hey-day. Both are in their prime and both are a great credit to the ever expanding surf life-saving movement