A COMING CHAMPION

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6844, 25 February 1929, Page 3

A COMING CHAMPION

12-Year-Old Feilding Girl Swimmer

PATTY SPORLEH SHOWING IN CHAMPIONSHIPS

One of the youngest and perhaps the most promising swimmers in the district under tho jurisdiction of tho Manawatu Swimming Centre, is Patty Sporle, of Feilding. Fatty is not yec 12 years of age, yet on Saturday she easily vs on the girls’ primary school championship of the Manawatu district. At the schools’ championship meeting held in the Terrace End baths, she competed in four events, each of which she won comfortably in remarkably fast times. In tho 25 yards championship she swam tho distance in 18 3-ssecs., or 3-5 secs, below standard time. Similarly in the 50 yards event she cut 3 1-Osecs. oil standard time in the heai, although in the final sho took slightly longer and just equalled standard. She did even better in tho 75 yards, however, covering tho distance in 5 3-5 secs, below standard time, while in the 100 yards she won very easily in 4secs. beiow standard. Easily as Fatty won her events, however, the competition was by no means weak, for in the 25 yards and 75 yards the second placed girl also broke standard time. Miss Sporio is under the mentorship of Mr. H. J. Parsonage, the well-known Feilding swimming enthusiast-, and her win on Saturday made the third successive occasion on which girls trained by Mr. Parsonage have won tho Manawatu primary schools’ championship. She will be eligible to swim as a junin. for another two years —i never yet been beaten in a scratch event. She has a delightfully even, natural style and on Saturday was as fit as it is possible for a child to be.

Mr. Parsonage also trains 14-year-old Betty Harford, who has this year won the Manawatu Centre ladies’ junior, intermediate, and senior championships. In Miss Sporle and Miss Harford, Mr. Parsonage has two young ladies who will undoubtedly make their mark in New Zealand swimming circles before long .