The Life of the Swimmer.

Northern Advocate, 21 September 1906, Page 3

The Life of the Swimmer.

Cases innumerable might be cited in support of the fact that the life of the swiimmer, his competing life, is much long' than that of any other athlete, and yet the racing swimmer is called upon to put forth a much greater and more sustained effort than the foot runner, the boxer, the rower, etc. The latest evidence of the truth of this assertion comes from London. D. Ainsworth, the ex-half-mile and one-mile amateur champion of England, who won the Serpentine Swimming Club's 42nd annual championship late in July, was sueeessful iv the same event 35 years before. Now and again Mr William Henry, lion, secretary of the Royal Life-saving Society, England, though verging on 50, takes part in contests that cu.ll for much strength mid endurance, and svins occasionally. Holbein, who has tackled the Channel swim several years in .succession, and is still tipped as more- likely to succeed thau most contemporary "aspirants, because of the rcmarfrable things he has- accomplished in open water, is only two or three years short of the half century ; and Jules Gauticr, nearly 80 years of age, Was surprising England a year or two since with liis swmiiniUL'; feats in UiuTuaines.