RECORD GOES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1931, Page 7

RECORD GOES

MAORI WOMAN'S SUCCESS

ENDURANCE SWIMMING

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ] SYDNEY, 25th'March. '! Sydney crowds have learned toj thoroughly appreciate the courage, ofj the Maori swimmer, Mrs. Katerinai Nehau, who on Sunday last at the BaW moral Baths, Sydney, established aj world's record for endurance swimming of 72 hours 9 minutes, beating th^ previous record by five minutes." Al--though it is generally admitted . .tha^ there is not much to ,be said in, favouej of these freak endurance tests, < one] cannot but admire the pluck of ' thi3j Maori who stuck so gamely to her self** imposed task. And it must ■be ret membered, too, that there was not the! same monetary prize attached to lietj latest swim as was the case when slid competed at Manly with Miss Grleitze.i That swim is said to have netted he«f £150, a sum very welcome when he^ family was on the verge of starvation! because her husband, a motor mechanic^ had been out of work for months. Wheii; she entered the water last Friday shay did so in the cause of charity. Thej admission fee to the. baths was one] shilling and the proceeds were for ona(. of Sydney's great hospitals. When. Mrs. Nehau left the water las^ Sunday night the big crowd at the; baths cheered her again, and again, but! she was scarcely in a fit state to ajx preciate the plaudits. As a matter] of fact, she was rushed off in an amtow lance and taken home to. begin a longj sleep and. so make up for lost time* It must not be supposed that she hadj been, without sleep altogether sineai she entered the water. , She is of tha! type that, apparently, cannot sink in! the water, and .she frequently dozed) during her record immersion. . Iti must have been gratifying for her to! learn later that there were scores of| people on Sunday night who were uni able to get into the baths to greet her» People went from all over Sydney t^ see her in the' last stages of her swin% and there were scores of caTS lined ugl outside the baths. The desire to sleep was the onljj thing that seemed to trouble Mr&, Nehau. The fact that the water wasj colder than usual and that a southerly blow made the harbour choppy did noli seem to cause her any concern. A^ any rate, she never complained of thef cold. Her husband, who was present} throughout, showed great concern. whei< his wife wanted to sleep and he re* sorted to all sorts of tricks to keep her] awake. Amplified gramophone musicj was played during the whole of thaj swim and this seemed to encourage^ Mrs. Nehau to do her best. For two! hours on Saturday her young daughter] swam alongside her for company, anclj she did much to cheer up her mother* There were others, too, who entered! tho water, and Mrs. Nehau was nevetj without company during the most try* ing hours—between 10 p.m. and dawn,. As a fitting finale the crowd sang "Forj She's a Jolly Good Fellow" in Maori* It was remarkable how quickly tliejJj picked up the language so strange taj their ears. Of course, it is not known! whether Mrs. Nehau could understand] what they were singing.