Egyptian Wins £1000 For Channel Swim

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23339, 23 August 1950, Page 7

Egyptian Wins £IOOO For Channel Swim

(10 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 22. Hassan Abd El Rehim, :he 4!-year-old Egyptian swimming ace. swam the Channel today in record time to win the Daily Mail's MOOD international contest. His unofficial time was lObrs. 52min., against the record held by the Frenchman. George Michel, oi Dhrs. smin. established in 1926

Eighteen men ana six women from 12 countries took part in the race. The Daily Mail offered £IOOO to the first man and a similar sum to the first woman across and £250 to every swimmer who finished the course. Rehim. who is list, and the father of six children, narrowly beat Roger Lc Morvan, of France, who led until an hour from the end. Morvan, aged 26, arrived in second place 10 minutes after Rehim also to break the old record.

Third in the race was another Egyptian. Marcel Hassan Hamad. He arrived 1 hr. 24min. after Rehim. Rehim is the first man to swim the Channel three times. He did the crossing once from France to England in 1943 and last year crossed from England to France. Rehim said he would spend his £IOOO on a launch to take his children boating on the Nile. It is . lorvan's first Channel swim and he had only one hour's training in the sea before the attempt. Seven men and two women staggered ashore along the coast in the vicinity of Dover in the first mass Channel swimming event ever staged.

The successful contestants were staggering ashore anywhere up and down the six miles stretch of coastline for six hours 26 minutes.

Reporters had a hectic time cruising the waterfront in fast cars looking for interviews. The first woman arrival was an English Scripture teacher, 21-year-old Eileen Fenton. Those to finish and their times were:

Hassan Abd El Rehim (Egypt), 10 hr. 52min.: Roger Le Morvan (France) llhr. 2min,: Mareet Hassan Hamad, 12hr. lOmin.; Sam Rockett (Britain), 14hr. 20min.; William Barnie (Britain), 14hr. 50min.; Eileen Fenton (Britain), 15hr. 31min.; Jasen Zirganos (Greece), 16hr. 19min.; Antonio Abertondo (Argentina), 16hr. 25min.; Jenny Kammersgaard (Denmark), 16hr. 30min.