Champion Retiring

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31449, 16 August 1967, Page 15

Champion Retiring

rpHE familiar figure of "*■ Norman Williams will be missing from the ranks of Canterbury’s leading swimmen when the new season opens next month. A leading freestyle and medley competitor, Williams has decided to end his pool career while he is at the height of his powers. But although boating and sailing will occupy much of his leisure time this summer, he will retain his interest in swimming by acting as an official and helping swimmers’ committees. A member of the Wharenui dub, Williams made his mark chiefly as a senior. Two seasons ago he broke P. W. Pearce’s provincial 440 yd medley record by s}sec, and this figure still stands. He won the 440 yd medley title twice and last season he claimed the inaugural 220 yd medley championship as well. Williams was well known for his ability to swim a thoroughly good

freestyle race, whether the distance was 110yds or a mile. Last season he was runner-up to the New Zealand champion, A. B. Kindred, in three Canterbury freestyle finals; the previous year he carried off the 220 yd title. He was a prominent member of several successful Wharenui club freestyle relay teams. Selection as a Canterbury representative naturally followed in the wake of Williams’s successes, and although he was not prominent at national level, he was a distinct success at the South Island meetings. In 1965-66 he won the men’s 220 yd medley event and last season he was second in this race and won the 110 yd freestyle title. Williams will be remembered as a tremendously diligent swimmer and admired for his sterling efforts to lift the standard of medley swimming in Canterbury.