Wharenui heads swimming

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 22

Wharenui heads swimming

The two ■ leading Canterbury swimming clubs. Wharenui and New Brighton, were first and second, respectively, in the club competition held in conjunction with the national Speedo Teleprinter finals last month.

The battle for top placing was close, and it was only after a recount that Wharenui was

awarded top place with 318 points, only five ahead of New Brighton.,

These two clubs combined to give the Canterbury centre the edge over Auckland in the centre competition, too. Canterbury swimmers earned 860'z points to Auckland’s 829'z. The third-placed club was Roskill. of Auckland. 129 points behind New Brighton. Auckland clubs were fourth, sixth and seventh. A surprise was the eighth placed club. South End. of Timaru. Only one club. Kaikorai. from the once powerful Otago centre, gaineo a ptaee in the top 10.

In the centre competition. Canterbury and Auckland were well clear of their rivals. Waikato, which has still to make full use of its excellent 50m indoor pool, was 495 points behind Auckland. Three centres. Counties. Taranaki and Wairarapa. failed to earn a point in the finals. The national organiser of the competition, Mr D. W. Cain, who is also a national swimming selector, has done an elaborate breakdown from the results of

utcaAuuwn nuiil lilt UI the Teleprinter finals for the purpose of "highlighting the high and low spots in New Zealand For some time the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association has been considering the appointment of a coach to act as the national director of coaching. His task would be to guide the top swimmers around the country and co-ordinate their training programmes. Mr Cain questions the value of such an appointment at present

after analysing the breakdown of the Teleprinter results. "There are only two areas in the country where top competitive programmes are operating. What would a coach do with his or her time with such a limited number of competitors that are up to standard?’’ warned Mr Cain. The top 10 clubs in the Teleprinter competition were: Wharenui 318 points. New

Brighton 315, Roskill 184. Mt Wellington 167'2, Hamilton 131*2. North Shore 100. Boystown (Auckland) 88. South End (Timaru) 69, Kaikorai 59. Tawa (Wellington) 48. The centre points scores were: Canterbury 860'2. Auckland 829'2. Waikato 334'z. Otago 301, Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay 225. Wellington 203. Bay of Plenty 129, Eastern Districts 107, Mana’watu 94'2. Southland 65*2. Northland 53. Wanganui 21.