SWIMMING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 January 1939, Page 10

SWIMMING

NELSON WINS Y.M.C.A. CUP INTER-PROVINCIAL CONTEST ON SATURDAY VISIT BY BLENHEIM AND WESTPORT TEAMS On Saturday evening quite a large crowd assembled at the Municipal Baths to witness the first contest for the Y.M.C.A. Challenge Cup between teams representing Nelson, Westport and Blenheim. Nelson won the cup by gaining 74 points. Westport was second with 32 and Blenheim third with 8 points. The members of the winning team gained the first two places in the ladies’ 50 yards freestyle, 75 yards breaststroke, and 100 yards freestyle; ladies’ dive, and men’s 100 yards breaststroke and 220 yards freestyle, while they gained first places in the ladies’ 50 yards, backstroke, relay -and in the men’s dive. Westport gained first and second places in the men’s 100 yards freestyle and first in the 100 yards men’s backstroke and relay. Blenheim gained first place only in the 50 yards men’s freestyle. The finishes in the men’s events were rill very close, especially in the 220 yards freestyle when Frank showed excellent judgment in winning. For the first three lengths Gray of Westport was slightly ahead of Marks and Frank of Nelson with Stevenson ( Westport) finding the pace a little too hut, further back. For the next two lengths Marks, I Gray and Frank were on even terms j with Frank swimming very strongly They turned together for the last 20 j yards to the finish and it was then that! Frank drew away to win narrowly, closely followed by Marks and then Gray. The time for this event was 2min 43 3-ssecs. Frank also swam a very good race in the 100 yards men’s handicap event which he won despite his big handicap. Gallagher showed good form in winning the 50 yards men’s freestyle against strong opposition. P. Foote performed consistently for Westport in winning the men’s 100 yards and taking second place in the 50 yards men’s.

Miss E. Nesbit of Nelson swam well and proved too good for the opposition in the 50 and 100 yards ladies’ events, as well as in the 66 2-3 yards ladies’ open handicap. Miss J. Fieldes won the 50 yards ladies’ backstroke on the excellent turn that she made.

During the evening an opportunity was taken to introduce Professor Anderson of Auckland who is visiting Nelson in connection with the National Learn to Swim Campaign. In a short address he explained the objects of the campaign. He then explained that the key to security in swimming was breathing and that if one controlled his breathing it was well nigh impossible to get drowned. Professor Anderson then gave a practical demonstration in the water of how it was quite easy to swim with wrists, ankles and knees tied together. Fear, he said was the cause of most drowning fatalities and if a person struggled and threw the arms in the air, he unavoidably went beneath the surface of the water. If a person relaxed and breathed naturally with the arms outstretched on the water it was quite easy to float. He then demonstrated this with a 3£ lb bar of metal in his mouth and did not sink. Professor Anderson next showed that by expelling the air from the body the body immediately sinks to the bottom. Struggling, or shouting for help, expelled the air from the body with a result that the body sank. A demonstration of several fancy -items including the human torpedo, imitation of a propellor, torpedo and a seal swimming and diving were very cleverly carried out by Professor j Anderson. He next traced the develop-' ment of swimming strokes, commencing j with the breast and side strokes and i finishing with the modern crawl. I The evening was by no means devoid of incident for the crowd was enter- j tained by the antics of three water nymphs appropriately garbed. I D. Kerr gave a line exhibition of diving by winning the men’s dive and he j should go a long way at the forth-] coming New Zealand championships, j Results were as follows: Y.M.C.A. CHALLENGE CUP EVENTS! 50 yards men’s freestyle: N. Gallager' (Blenheim) 1, R. Foote (Westport) 2, R. Dunkley (Blenheim), 2. Time, 27 2.5 secs. 50 Yards Ladies’ Freestyle: Miss E. Nesbit (Nelson), 1; Miss L. Potton (Net-j son), 2. Time, 33 2-5. 100 Yards Men’s Breaststroke: Boul- i ton (Nelson), 1; Turley (Nelson), 2;j Foote (Westport), 3. Time, 1.24 4-5. | 75 Yards Ladies’ Breaststroke: Miss V. Saunders (Nelson), 1; Miss J. Fieldes (Nelson), 2; Miss J. Watson (Westport), 3. Time, 1.12 3-5.

220 Yards Men’s Freestyle: J. Frank (Nelson), 1; M. Marks (Nelson), 2; W. Gray (Westport), 3. Time, 2.43 3-5. 100 Yards Ladies’ Freestyle: Miss E. Nesbit (Nelson), 1; Miss L. Potton (Nelson), 2: Miss J. Watson (Westport), 3. Time, I.l3secs. Plain Dive, men: D. Kerr Nelson)„ 21 1-3 points, 1; W. Keesing (Westport). 16 2-3, 2. Plain Dive, Ladies: J. Carpenter (Nelson), 16 2-3 points, 1; J. Fieldes, 15 1-3 points, 2. 100 Yards Men’s Freestyle: G. Foote (Westport). 1; W. Gray (Westport), 2; M. Marks (Nelson), 3. 50 Yards Ladies’ Backstroke: J. Fieldes (Nelson), 1; J. Watson (Westport), 2. Time, 40 2-ssecs. 100 Yards Men’s Backstroke: D. Foote (Westport), 1; D. Dodson (Nelson), 2; A. T. Bolum (Nelson), 3. Time, 1.14 1-5. 133 1-3 Yards Men’s Relay: Westport (D. Foote, C. Foote, W. Gray, W. Keesing), 1; Nelson (P. Hansen, A. Bolam, D. Dodson, M. Marks) ,2. 133 1-3 Yards Ladies’ Relay: Nelson (Misses E. Nesbit, J. Riddell, L. Potton. J. Fieldes), 1. Points for the cup were awarded as follows: First 5, second 3, third 1. HANDICAP EVENTS 50 Yards Boys: E. Annear 1, K. Lane 2. 50 Yards Girls: B. Ilurst 1, M. Nesbit 2 100 Yards Open, Men’s: J. Frank 1, Kearns (Westport), 2; Dawson (Westport), 3. Time, 1.19 3-5. 66 2-3 Yards Open, Ladies: Miss E. Nesbit 1, Miss P. Stannafd 2, Miss J. Carpenter 3.

“Is your 'usbaud given to drink?” ‘On’y when drink’s given to ’mi.”