SWIMMING

Evening Star, Issue 21037, 26 February 1932, Page 5

SWIMMING

[By Hooker.]

NOTES AND NEWS

DATES TO BE ARRANGED. Dunedin Club harbour race. University Club’s carnival. FIXTURES. April 14 and 15.—Primary schools’ championships. Club Hours.—Monday:St. Clair Life Saving Club and St. Kilda Life Saving Club; Tuesdays' and Thursdays, Kiwi Amateur Swimming Club; Fridays and Saturdays, Dunedin Amateur Swimming Club. Club hours are at the Municipal Baths from 8.45 till 9.45 p.m. NEW ZEALAND SURF CHAMPIONSHIPS. The conditions under which the New Zealand surf championships were held at Sumner last Saturday called for the highest degree of skill, and it was a pity that the seven-man event for the Nelson Shield attracted only one entry from the South Island, this being from the Taylor’s Mistake Club. The Canterbury clubs object to the present conditions governing the Nelson Shield competition, which was the reason for the lack of entries, for under the present rules great importance is attached to the land drill, the Canterbury clubs contending that this is over-emphasised. At the conference of delegates held during the progress of the championships in Christchurch Mr J. L. M'lndoe, who represented the Otago Head Centre at the Royal Life-saving Society conference, moved a motion that was carried that the Surf Association (to which the Canterbury clubs are attached) should submit a set of rules for the Nelson Shield competition, these to be circulated among the centres, and if a compromise is not then reached it looks as if the Nelson Shield competition will eventually be purely a North Island affair.

The William Henry Memorial Shield for the four-man surf championship was the one in which most interest was taken by local enthusiasts, as the St. Clair Life-saving Club was represented for the first time for some years. At the last moment the Canterbury clubs had to rearrange their teams, as they had overlooked the fact that it was necessary for members of the respective teams to be holders of the Surf Medallion. No fewer than nine teams took part, three from the North

Island and six from the South. The Wellington teams took the water first, so that they would have plenty of time to catch their boat that night, and there was no doubt that this gave them a very definite advantage in the matter of the seas experienced. The ■ strong drift which set in later in the afternoon was not then in evidence. There were two opposing drifts—one close in to the shore and one further out —but they were safely negotiated by the three North Island teams.

Later on, when the South Island teams began to go out, the tide commenced to ebb, and with it there was an increasingly strong drift towards the cliffs, which increased in force as the afternoon wore on. As a result not one of the South Island teams managed to reach the buoy, but the finest swim of the day was that of Stan. Fogg, of the St. Clair Club, who was within an ace of the buoy when a huge breaker washed him in several yards. By this time the current had caught him and swept him down the beach, and had he managed to touch the buoy St. Clair would have scored a comfortable victory in the competition, as his time would have been one minute ahead of the next fastest, and a point was allowed for every ssec difference. This would have given St, Clair a definite lead of 5 points. As it happened, Maranui won the contest from Lyall Bay B and Lyall Bay A, none of the other teams being placed owing to their inability to reach the buoy. Maranui also annexed the Nelson Shield. During the course of the seven-man event N. S. Batchelor, support in the Taylor’s Mistake team, received a severe buffeting and had to be assisted to the shore by his own beltman, G. R. Laurie. The showing of the St. Clair team was highly satisfactory, the resuscitation being quite good. With so much promising young material in the club St. Clair’s prospects for the future are exceedingly bright. KIWI CHAMPIONSHIPS COMMENCED. Considerable activity is being evidenced at the Kiwi Club’s hours, and on Tuesday, night there was another large attendance, four new • members being enrolled. All competitive members are now in training for the various club champiou T ships, and a start was made with the junior championship events, the 25yds junior girls’ event providing a great race. Miss Nancy Urns showed a return to her best form, and won by 4ft from Miss A. Gillies, Miss 0. Buckland being third. The time was 16 3-ssec. There would have been a good struggle for second place, but Miss Gillies swam an erratic course and Was warned for crossing Miss Buckland’s course. Miss Buckland has made rapid progress this year, and promises to be one of the club’s outstanding juniors next season. In the junior boys’ 25yds championship, there was a fine field of seven swimmers, and last year’s co-champions —-W. W. Bucklapd and Roy Geddes—were both defeated. An exciting race resulted; the winner being D. Tuckwell, with W. M'Cusker second, and Win Buckland third. Not a yard separated the three placed boys, the winner’s time being 18sec. Tuckwell is a first season’s member, and on the form he has shown to date looks almost sure to carry off the junior boys’ cup. Further championship races are to bo contested next Thursday, when a start will be made with the men’s and ladies’ title events, and the junior championship contests will also be continued. DUNEDIN DASHES. Owing to the postponement of the Ravensbourne regatta through the atrocious weather last Saturday, it was impossible to hold the Dunedin Club’s harbour race for the E. H. James Cup, and the date for deciding this event will now have to be fixed by the committee. A splendid entry has been received, and given favourable conditions the race should be one of the best that has yet been witnessed in the harbour. Such experienced harbour swimmers as Val Newall, Miss Maxine Mathieson, and Brian Kerr are among the entrants, and of the newer members J. O’Driscoll is one who is expected to swim well after his fine showing in the recent Batt Cup harbour race. The senior championship contests will not be commenced till next week, and. the competitors will include J. 0. Byrnes, W. J. Jarvis, Brian Kerr, V. Newall, R. C. Calder, .and R. Nuttall, so that some fine competition should be ■ witnessed.

The junior cup competition will ho launched to-night, and the competitors for this trophy include Sid Jarvis (the New Zealand’ junior boys’ free styk champion), J. Barry (New Zealand junior boys’ breast stroke champion), T Pullar, Miss G. Rix, Miss M. Pockson, Miss W. Newall, Miss 0, Ferguson, and P. W. Harness. This is decided on the handicap principle, and the handicapper’s task certainly does not seem a particularly easy one. SPLASHES. The interclub season has almost concluded, but one carnival remains yet to bo decided, and the writer was informed by the University Club’s captain (Mr S. Fogg) during the week that the ’Varsity Club’s second carnival would probably be held about a week before Easter. In addition to the ’Varsity interfaculty championships there will be a programme of interclub handicaps which are likely to be well supported by the representatives of other clubs. The Otago State prmiary schools’ championships are to be held on April 14 and 15 next at the Municipal Baths, and as the competitors include S. Jarvis, the New Zealand junior boys’ champion, performances above the ordinary may be expected. The secretary of the Schools’ Swimming Committee is Mr R. S. Harrison.

The application for affiliation of the St. Kilda Life-saving and Surf Club is to be submitted to the next meeting of the New Zealand Swimming Council, and as everything is in order it should be merely a matter of form that the application is granted, > A. Watson, a former Wellington swimmer, has met with great success in Sydney. He is one of the leading performers of the Sydney Club, specialising in back-stroke swimming, at which style he has improved vastly since leaving New Zealand. For some time past ho has been registering smart figures over various distances, and recently he attempted to lower

the New South Wales record for 22Q i yards. In this he was successful, cover- J ing the distance in 3min 7 4-ssec—an j improvement of l-ssec on the previous j time. In a later effort on the same ) afternoon he swam back-stroke in a I 220yds free-style race and recorded 1 3min 6sec. These times will indicate i the improvement Watson has made. For the first time for many years £ j Victorian girl is the holder of Aus- 1 tralian ladies’ records. Miss Frances \ Bult won the 100yds at the Australian ; National Games in 62 3-ssec, which was only" 1 4-ssec outside the world’s record and created a new Australian , record. She also ' won the 110yds in 72 3-sseo—another Australian record—and her performances have gained he? a place in the Australian team to visit the Olympic Games. She is eighteen years of age. • | It is unfortunate for Alec,Stokes, of j Canterbury, that he should be a con- | temporary of Bridson and Lindsay, fo?3 he is a most useful all-round who would be a worthy holder of ai j] national title (says the Auckland/ ‘ Star ’). Stokes not only filled thirdjj| place in the sprint championship, but/ in the 220yds, 440yds, 880yds, and mile j as well. This season he is swimming i faster than ever before, no doubt be- u cause he has had Lindsay as a training | partner to spur him on. In fact, one effect of their companionship can be | observed in the resemblance between 1 their styles. ’ ‘ In the 150yds backstroke at the New; j Zealand swimming championships, L. -a J. Moorhouse, holder of the title, was ij obviously more concerned with pacing ll his promising young team-mate and/ pupil, G. Low, than with breaking re-1 cords (says the ‘Sun’). Even so, his 3 time; 1.54 2-5, was 2 l-ssec faster than!'2 he did at Wanganui last year. He kept'! with Low ov’er the greater part of the | journey, and forged ahead only in tha| last 25yds, to win by about 3yds in 1.54 s 2-5. It looked as though he could have j broken his own record of 1.49 1-5 for, the distance had he gone after it. Low, i also swam a great race, beating thel Aucklander, A. Raper, decisively for,-3 second place, in time that was better, j than the standard. It won’t be long; before Low is breaking records himself.; * Mr P. Goira, who is one of the lead- \ ing diving judges, informed “ Header,”'! of the Wellington ‘ Post,’ that in the j men’s diving a very fine standard was l maintained by all the performers, anct'i it was evident to him that there has!, been a real improvement on previous i, years’ showings. It might be interest- f ing to mention here that the diving I rules and system of judging have now,! been brought into line with interna- ■ tional regulations as the result of a! conference held at Timaru. Calder was: diving up to his previous high standard/ and had made a full recovery from the,; injury that had kept him out of tho) sport for two seasons. j

Had the Ravensbourne regatta been ' held last week some first-class swim-1 ming would have been witnessed, as the J Canterbury and ex-New Zealand cham-i pion, A. T. F. Stokes, was to be one. of the competitors. Stokes was in town': last week, and thoroughly enjoyed a!\ game of water polo at the Kiwi Club’a i hour on the Thursday night. { An open night at the Municipal / Baths is to be instituted by the Kiwi? Amateur Swimming Club towards the' end of next month. Members of other,! clubs will be invited to be present at* the Kiwi Club hour, and a number of I competitive events will be staged for, I the visitors, as well as for club mem-,i bers. Such functions should do much'! to further cement the friendly spirit J that exists among the local clubs at the present time. ! After having been out of action with i a broken ankle for some months, T. ; J W. Thomson did very well to gain ' third place for Canterbury the New Zealand diving cham- •' pionship (says the ‘Sun). Roy \ Calder at the top of his form, as he ] was at Timaru, would take a tremen- I dous amount of beating, and H. E„' Walker, who finished second, is also i a very fine diver. Not for years has - the diving in the championship been so good. The result was a complete versal of form over that shown in the] Canterbury diving championship last ■ week. Then, G. Tipler-was placed first, by the judges, and W. Keesmg second* I while Thomson occupied fourth place/ though it actually counted as third, as, Keesing was not eligible to compete. In*]’ the New Zealand championship Thom/ son was third and Keesing fourth, while 1 Tipler was not placed. The Kiwi Club has been unfortunate in the weather it has experienced for its annual picnic, which has had twice to: bo postponed. Weather permitting, the outing will be held at Purakanm on' Sunday next,_ and after the two' previous disappointments, members are hoping for the best. A programme ofi, running and swimming races is to be ; ■ decided, as well as events far the children.

In mentioning the progress that has been made by the New Zealand ladies* diving champion, Miss Joye Eggers,. reference should be made to the work : that was done by Mr P. A. Mathieson' in supervising the champion’s preparation during a good part of her training.; Along with Mr W.’M. Matthews, M? j Mathieson has good cause to bo satis- '■ fied with the results of his efforts, and it may be added that quite a. few local divers owe a lot to the time and atten-,, tion that has been given to them by, 1 Mr Mathieson. ' •

The executive is pleased to report that it was successful in its negotiations. with the Dunedin City Corporation for a concession to schools wishing to U£e the municipal baths on Saturday mornings. Squads of children frontf schools, under the charge of a teacher^) are now admitted to the baths on Sat-| / urday mornings during the. regular,'" bathing hours at half-price (states the. annual report of the Primary Schools| Sports Association). The number ofj children for whom the Otago State! '■ Primary Schools Sports Association'.’; caters is revealed by the following fig-,| ures:—Boys’ winter games, 1,200; girls'- ’ winter games, 560; cricket, 500; tennis^ 130; athletics and swimming, 2,100-1 These numbers do not include emewi? gencies or the children in sub-associa* “ tions. Members have reason to be, proud of the work done by their asso-| 'ciation. The Swimming Sub-committee,.;; was this year composed of delegates;! from each school, instead of being art? elected sub-committee as formerly-' The result was that increased'interest was taken by the schools in this im-, portant branch of our activities. change of date back to the first tefm*; affected entries to some extent, but the* swimming carnival was nevertheless onaj of the most successful organised by thai| association. Albany Street were sue-,! cessful in retaining the Begg CUp, buii ‘ it was pleasing to notice that the cup; points were shared amongst morafj schools than formerly, Normal, Street, St. Clair performing especially!); well. It is worthy of note that all-’ the successful schools are taking morejl than the usual interest in the coach-1 ing of their boys and girls in this’ sport.