SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 98, 18 January 1908, Page 10

SWIMMING.

■ ■ .—4 —, (Bv Si'pASTt.) CUMING CARNIVALS. i(au. .IS.--Tlionuhm A.S.C., sit Thorudon. ilaii, A.B.C.', at Mastertpu... Jan. 22."->Miramai' Carnival, at Seatoun.. Fell. I.—Y-M.C.A A.S.C., at To Am Baths. Fob. 15.—Swifts A.S.C., at IV. Aro Baths. Feb. A'S.Q.', ' at. To Ant Hatlis.. • 1 . Mav. 14.—VtoHiugUm Copt-re, «t 'VUovivvlqix, Mar. 10 and 23.— N.Z. Championships, at Napiov, Swimmers arc., reminded that- entries for tlio races-to. -ho swum at tho lji.val on Au'nivtirsary- Dayclosij to-day. Despite tho lact. that. tho outi'.y-sh.eet 'for tlio Thorudon .Carnival ■ was latis in making its appearance;. tho committee ha? every reason 'to.- fool .satisfied with- the rcspqnso nuulo.'by swimmers, tlipvo being over \(JO an tries- Three teams havo been entered for., the. champion teams race to be swum. at,, this carnival, hy the Swifts, Thermion, and Wellington, clubs respectively. Each team, should put up an excellent performance, but from, appearaneos .it would seam thai. tlu\ strugglo for. supremacy will Ho with the Tho radon and Wellington clubs.. The Heggluii •brothers, who, havo been' in Blenheim tor a considerahlo 'tiine, will bo oyer in time for tl\sv 'l'l\ovndon canviv.il.-, 0... Wells, a fairly speedy swinimer,. and alsq .a. resident of' Jlaruiorough, is also coining to-Welling-, ton for this." gathering. Another new com.V potttor will bp 0. Ya,tes ( who is well known in Auckland swimming circles. Yates ' bass thrown in, his Iqi as a swimnier with the Wellington cbib. • Tlio first; of the spries of water pqlo• (i|tures for, the. banner, will take-place at the -To.' Aro. Baths on Monday next, January 20. Nothing: -mqqh appears to • have been donor in thq, \yay (jf training for thos© • fixtures, and it • would f scorn. that the . issues will tier pond' nioi'^'oit good luck; than on any careful preparation ' piv-t-ho part of the competitors. This is to be.regretted, because there is much material' tp work on to onablosome proficiency to be. attained in this department of the sport, ft is tp/.be sincorely hoped that those fixtures will topd. tpinfusq greater interest in polo aniong swpnm.ors "as a wholo. Danger notices are.' floujishiug at tho To Aro 1 Baths, but the'caretaker, Wilton, stil ; l has much difficulty in preventing bathers from diving into shallow water. . Minor 'ijcoidohts, it' is stated, aro continuing to occur, but it is hoped that, the additional warning boards -will do much to' lessen-; these- unpleasant happenings. An excellent teams raco is expected at. the Thorndpn Carnival to-day. Tho teams will lio as followThorridou—l'\ Roberts, R.- Rouayno, Gibbons, C. Macdona.ld; Swifts—s. Q. i'Voyberg, Fordliam.,-and the best ■ two out of Chartros, Jenkiuson, Lynch, and Moore; Wellington—C. Kelly, C. Hcggh;n, E. T. Ilcggltui, and L. Bridge, . emergency, NM'liCan. Y.M.C.A. have li'pt entered a team, but any of the following would ■ have made a. respectable showing: Chartros, Baker, Monimott, C. T. Arthur, and (!. I'. Hanna. . Tho programme arranged for tho. Wo days' meeting at . Napier on Thursday and Monday, March 19 and 23, -at which the Now Zealand Championships will bo decided; iu T eludes, in addition to the fivo championships, six 'handicaps rind a high dive.. Entries close with the lion, secretary, Mr. A. E, Eagloton, oii February 20. '... The following rcpords have been endorsed by the-English A.S.A.:—looyds. .(ladies), lmin. 17sei5., by Hiss J- Flotcher, September 27, at Manchester; 100 yds., C. Mi Daniells, 55'S-psec.', at. Manchester, on- September 7.}. lpOyds.', C. M. Daniells,-iitun-, -33see., at Liverpool, on-September 10; 150 yds;. back stroke,-"F.-,'A ; .Unwin, 'linin'.- 50 -1-qsco.,. at Salisbury, on September.lS. - '" Po H.ilmay is credited with the -statement that a 30, yards bath hcjps-speed ;qvor, 100 yards piorq than a .basin, nf-shorter length, and explains why thus:—lnau is not going bis fastest 'towards the finish of 100 yards, and as in a 30-yards bath' bo has tlic benefit of a turn for. his last ten yards, the push-off improves'his time.'* •' •' Australian breast-stroke chainpions will liavo to copio oil a'lot before'they pan claim to bo as'good ias the best ip the Old 1 Country; fjinin. 44 2r<isEc." ia not ill it ; 'wjth English times. Tliat breast-stroke swiiniVnng. is so coniparatively poor ,iiV Australia. ,is l due to the fact , of little or po oucou.ragenipnt being given swimmers to practico that method of. propulsion. Only onco in a evei —dp wo hoar, of a v breast-stroke event otbei than tho championship being decided, ant] yet it is by far the most ur.eful stylo oi swimming, and ouq tjiat comos natural tr alj to aqopt' in _ cases of emergency. ' The Life-Saving Society "should rise to tho .occasion, and keep clubs up to the ipark in the couiieotio'n. Signs, are that there will be no visit of English, champions to Australia . this. year, and that ..that w.is]jed-.for'.happening js' as far off as .ever. Mr. 11- Kpers, Hon; £>ec. of thp'N.S.W.A.S.A., is jn receipt, of- news oi a vorji discouraging nature Englaiui with regard to tho matter of a visit of thai country's champions to Australia. The committee of the English A.S.A. had the question before them on November 16, and, though favourably considering the invitation, professed to seo difficulty in the fact that the world'? Olympic Ciames take'place in London this year, and would cost the E.A.S.A. £300, which means a big inroad upon the reserve fund, an exchequer so depleted that the £200 necessary for the Australian trip would have to -be looked for in other directions, It was dccidcd to have Mr.' Kcers' letter on the subject printed, in the minutes of the meeting, s6 that the whole thing might be considered at a Council meeting to be held at Chester on 'March 7—-thus leaving it with the swimmers of the Old Country as a body to say yes or no. It is also pointed out that the matter of expenses will need to be got oyer in some way, as the English amateur swimming laws do not. permit of expenses being allowed one who-compotes in a race where lie has a chance of winning a prize for himself. Expenses aro only permitted where representation in championships is the object of sending a swimmer' away from the town or city of .his residence. "Candidly," the communication concludes, "there is very little hope of tho vjsit taking placc; had there been,no. Olympic Games this year I think the invitation would havo been accented, but the expense to bo incurred in that direction 'will kill all prospect of sending English swimmers to Australia.' l At the annual sports of the Osborne Swimming Club, Manchester, on November IS, J. 11. Derbyshire succeeded in 'beating bis own time for 78 yards, 46 2-s'r,ee., ! marle in the Osborne. Street bath four or five years ago. For the first 39 yards' he used the crawl stroke, finishing up wit)) the trudgeou. or double overarm/ Three timekeepers held watches, and although a slight difference was apparent-, all agreed that Derbyshire was successful in his effort, the slowest time recorded being 15 -l-asec., or 3-Ssec. insido tho record. Jn tho course of a chat with; Uoltah de Halinay, a London writer discovered that the Budapest amateur woe a fine all-round athlete. Whilst conversing on ' sporting topics, de Halinay remarked that be had won thft Hungarian speed skating championship, anr] that he also rowed and played football. He is now 27 years of age, and stands 6ft. 2iii- It- will como as a surprise to moat Australian swimmers to bear that the Hungarians developed the ''craw]" stroke themselves, and before they read anything at all about it. It appears that some few years ago at Budapest there was a swimmer who could do remarkably good time over 50 yards without making much use of lug legs, and this, de Halinay said, caused the amateur swimmers to start thinking for themselves. An interesting fa<-t in connection with de Halmay's '■ "crawl" is that in distance rucei; lie does not use his legs at all, being content just eauso the feet to quiver. By this means lie won the Hungarian quarter-mile championship in only flmiii. 3'lscp,, the bat-li in which the race was contested being 3S yards long. Under any circumstances vigorous log action by de linlmay would be impossible, for some time ago he kicked out of the water, and so badly strained his lt-l'l tinder-limb ll,:ir. to this day lie has to wear a banda'.'.o. A remarkable feat lias been performed by Annm .M'HaUio. of London, a i liilil of seven years of age. She swam OTI yard'i at Poplar /laths on Oelnber -'.I in IJlmin. J1? l-.'i.iei'.,. with the over-arm .stroke. Though I lie time would not be considered l'o.sl fur an ok) swimmer, it must be regarded r,i; a record for a child.