Swimming

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 65, 17 March 1934, Page 20

Swimming

By "Head«r."

YOUNG SWIMMERS ■'<

FINE PERFORMANCES

SOME RECENT CARNIVALS

The annual carnival of the priniary schools association was again well supported by'the children, and the competition provided -was well up to the standard of former years. In some'instances, an all-round improvement was shown. The management and control was oneof the features of the meeting, and the officials in charge- got through a very heavy programme in. excellent style, without the hitches and delays that are occasionally noticeable at similar functions. The- Honorary' Secretary, Mr. Pinfold, had an extremely busy • time, but all arrangements were right up-to date, resulting in a very successful afternoon. The competition was keen, and many of the performers will be heard-of again if they continue to show an interest in competitive swimming.. A decision of the association'to dispense with all trophies in connection with, school competition,).which jneans that contests' such as - the /boys. arid girls' championships, the Shields Memorial: Trophies, etc., are not notv competed 1 for under the jurisdiction of the association, did not debar • the the numerous contestants from, putting forth spirited- efforts, and in all events some good racing was'seen,'"with many close finishes: The carnival was one of the best yet staged by the association, and the officials are to be'complimented on the success that attended their efforts. ■'■■ '. V-' ''" '-/,"' : ' Favoured with/conditions, that did not appear possible the previous' evening, the Wellington, club was: rewarded with 'a good attendance .of patrons considering .the strong counter-attractions. Due to the postponement^ the programme had to be amended, but the competition pro: vided was well up-to the average. Delays occurred at intervals, due in many instances to scratchings,. resulting in proceedings"' dragging somewhat and spoiling to a certain extent ;ttie/pleasure of those* present. Compensation however, .was offered in the, several close finished that occurred during the afternoon^ and the fine performances put up by several of' the' younger swimmers. Three centre championships. ware disposed of, and each resulted in comfortable victories,for the winners.1 . / _ ; :in the_22o yards free-style event, D. Plank had little difficulty in gaining the title. Swimming L to,:the front right from, the start, he soon established a comfortable -lead over the Test of the contestants, :arid this he'maintained to the finish 'without exerting himself. . The tim." was only ordinary, tout* Plank had rib- necessity1 to do: better against the opposition' provided. J.;K. Thwaites/surprised by making a good showing for second .place.; .He,has been swimming well over sprint distances during the season, but he revealed form on this occasion that may enable him to develop jrito a first-class middle-distance swim-. irier. His improvement has been' very marked this season; and he -will do still better next-year. Pennington also displayed improved form to take third place, close,up to Thwaites. . .';■■ 'In.retaining his title in the 220 yards breaststroke, K. Spry did not have to exert himself.' He took the lead practically from the start, and overreach lap gradually increased his margin to eventually win comfortably by: ten yards. Page secured second, place, arid fOr a fttst attempt at this class of race made a Very creditable showing. * '...-. .. The remaining championship - L— the men's dive—hardly deserved the name of a. contest. . There' were only three epmpetitbrs, and two of these, J. Penman and K. ,Tupper, have had a fair amount of experience.. On this occasion however, they performed; Hk6 ( novices and some of'their efforts'were very weak. Possibly both were; suffering from stage fright, but whatever' the cause, it is hard to understand how each* failed so regularly with dives with' which ; they, have experienced nb difficulty on former occasions. B. Liver, the other entrant, was competing for the first time, but gave an indication that with'plenty of practice he would develop into a fairly good diver. Tupper Was the winner, but the winning points were very low. : The usual enthusiasm was manifest in the annual contests for the primary and secondary schools'trophies,, and "while easy victories were recorded in some instances, these were counterbalanced by stirring races in other cases. Particularly was this so in the 'boys' and girls' Maxwell Trophy races. In ."the boys' event, an excellent afield of ten. teams faced the starter, and right throughout the .contest the swimming was close. Towards the end "Wellington College A and St. Pat's, Silverstream, sorted themselves out, and in a: dashing finish the former gained first place by the barest of margin's. Similarly in the girls' event, Wellington East A and Hutt Valley staged a fine finish, with the honours going to the former by a yard. In the primary sections, the victories of Clyde Quay (boys) and Queen Margaret (girls) were gained by substantial margins with well-balanced teams. ; The two distances of both the schoolboys' and schoolgirls' championships which were decided served to introduce some promising talent, and the remaining distances to come up for decision next Saturday afternoon will be very interesting contests. In the boys' section, Mclnnes (Eastern Hutt), swam well for a first - and a second. place, Pilalis (Clyde Quay) and Wall (Scots College) also gave good performances'. The latter might have won the 75 yards race but for mistaking the distance to be covered. ' Miss P. Cohen (H'ataitai) is leading in the girls' section, but may have been a little fortunate in that the winner of the 75 yards event, Miss B. Picot, did not contest the 50 yards, as on her performance in the first-mentioned event Miss Picot looked1, to have a great chance of success. Her swim in' the 75 yards race iras one of the outstanding performances of the afternoon, and she shows promise of developing into a a top-class swimmer. She is only twelve years of age, and is sure to improve, especially as she has practically only recently commenced using the * crawl stroke. MissPieot is a daughter of Mr. Em. Picot, who will be remembered as a prominent member of the old Thorndon club with which he was associated, for many years both as a competitor and' as an official.

For. tlffe-first time for several; years, a carnival is to be held at Petone,\vhen the local centre ■■will stage a gathering on next Saturday afternoon. An excellent programme'of events, including the 150 yards backstroke, intermediate, schoolboys', and schoolgirls' championships, has been drawn up, and as this is the last, carnival of the season, a big entry should be forthcoming.