Little Miss Horner proved her point

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 1

Little Miss Horner proved her point

PA Wellington Elizabeth Horner, of Christchurch, was judged not good enough to compete in marathon swimming events- last summer. On ■ Sunday, she swam Cook Strait 'for the second time. The 15-year-old schoolgirl, shown at her Christchurch home last evening, broke Meda McKenzie’s record for a north-south strait swim, set in February 1978, despite having to battle most unfavourable conditions. Her mammoth effort took llh 33min.

Elizabeth’s mother, Mrs Elsie Horner, said, “She went on a marathon swim on Lake Brunner the summer before last and applied to the New Zealand. Marathon Swimming Council in the hope of being able to com-

pete in their races last year.” . “She heard back from them in November that they had 10 top swimmers selected for their races and that she wasn’t one of them. It almost broke her heart,” Mrs- Horner said.

Elizabeth had, however, competed in events organised by a breakaway movement from the council, the Endurance Swimming Society. There was a second purpose in Elizabeth’s recordbreaking swim on Sunday. The Wharenui Swimming Club, to which' Elizabeth belongs, had sought sponsors for Sunday’s swim in the hope of boosting the club’s funds for sending teams to Australia and California, according to Mrs Horner.

“We don’t know how much she will have raised, since all of the sponsor-

ship cards are not in, but we hope that it will be about $2000,” said Mrs Horner. The last 800 metres had been by far the toughest part of the swim for her daughter, Mrs Horner said.

This final stretch had taken about two hours, the tide sweeping Elizabeth down the coast.

Elizabeth, by going south of Perano Head, which is on Arapawa Island, walked out of the water on to the South Island proper, becoming the first swimmer to do so. Now Elizabeth wants to do more marathon swimming. She is aiming at an attempt on Foveaux Strait, between Bluff and Stewart Island, next summer and there has been talk of the Endurance Swimming Society sending her to compete in Europe later this year.