‘IRON MAN OF N.Z. SWIMMING’

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 27 January 1940, Page 3

‘IRON MAN OF N.Z. SWIMMING’

I major-general b. c. freyberg FOUR TITLES AT NELSON SWIMMING CARNIVAL The hero of the gathering was the young Wellington representative B. C. Freyberg. who secured four of the six championships in which he started. Those words were written thirty-four years ago by a correspondent of the “Canterbury Times” after the New Zealand swimming championships meeting at Nelson. The subject of the comment, now Major-General Freyberg, V.C., General Officer Commanding the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was then a sixteen-year-old Wellington College pupil—and the swimming sensation of the country. Such is the lustre of Major-General Freyberg’s career on the field of battle that his achievements in the field of sport are often overlooked. For several years from 1906 until his departure for the United States to further his dental studies, he was one of the Dominion’s most noted sportsmen. Not only did he win New Zealand swimming championships, but he excelled as an oarsman, footballer, and boxer. FOUR WINS; TWO SECONDS That 1906 swimming championship meeting was the fixture that established the Wellington youth’s reputation in the water. The meeting was confined to two days, and in one day alone Freyberg won three events, and was second in a third. The next day he won his fourth title and secured another second. Titles which he won were the 100 yards, in 74sec; the 440 yards, in 6min 55 3-ssec; the 880 yards, in 14min 13sec and the mile in 28min 56sec. In the 220 yards breaststroke he was second to F. Truscott, of Canterbury, and took second place to R. M. Bell, of Auckland, in the 220*yards freestyle. Apart from Bell, the chief opposition came from a well-known trio of Canterbury swimmers, Truscott, G. L. Bull, and C. H. Rich. Bell touched after Freyberg in the 100 yards and 440 3 ards, Bull was third in the quartermile and mile, and second in the halfmile, while Rich took third place in the half-mile and second in the mile. A TRUE SPORTSMAN Freyberg's performances gripped the imagination of the spectators, who gave him a great reception. How he appealed to the people was summed up as follows by the “Canterbury Times” writer; “-'Tiny,’ as he is called, is very popular with the Wellingtonians, and, for that matter, with all the competitors, for he is a true sportsman, and is, besides, the possessor of a sunny disposition that readily makes friends. He is the youngest competing member of a family well-known in Wellington, and has been himself a competitor since he was nine years of age. “His nickname may have been appropriate enough at one time, but is so no longer, for ‘Tiny’ scales 12$ stone, stands six feet in height, and boasts a chest measurement of 42 inches expanded. When pushed he races himself to a Condition of temporary exhaustion, but recovers very quickly.” Rich s challenge in the mile provided the highlight of the meeting, and it

required all the Wellington competitor’s speed to keep him in from of the dogged man from Canterbury. Rich put up a desperate and magnificent race. Length after length the pair raced side by side, neither being able to gain a marked advantage. Freyberg had a longer, cleave - sweep, but Rich kept his shorter stroke going by remarkable staying power. The Wellington lad gained a good four feet on Rich at every turn, and this was more than sufficient to win him the race. After every turn the Christchurch, swimmer had to spurt to make up thp space lost in this way. At the finish he was only three yards away. COMPETED IN AUSTRALIA Prior to this championship meeting, Freyberg had been one of the two New Zealand representatives at the Australasian swimming championships at Brisbane, where he swam well to secure several third placings. In those races he was up against the two greatest swimmers in the world, Cecil Healey and Barney Kieran. At that period Kieran was at the height of his fame and held e string of world records, and the Australian gave the young New Zealander some valuable hints, in addition to inviting him to share his room, as accommodation was difficult to obtain in Brisbane. During the meeting, Kieran was stricken with appendicitis and Australia was stunned at the sudden death of their champion a few days after. A fine tribute was paid to Kieran's memory by Freyberg. ’ COMEBACK IN 1910 From 1906 until 1910, Freyberg was overshadowed by the performances of Malcolm Champion and R. Healey, but back he came in 1910 with a second victory in the 100 yards event, cutting his time for the distance down to 65sec. That win was probably the most spectacular in his career. Tremendous enthusiasm was aroused by the keen struggle between Freyberg. Champion and A. O’Hare, of Auckland. Freyberg turned first with the last length to go and had to face strong challenges from Champion and O’Hare. This pair just failed to catch the Wellington man. who touched first less than six inches ahead of O’Hare amid a scene of ’ “indescribable enthusiasm,” with Champion a similar distance away. That championship meeting was notable for the performance of Carl Atkinson, of Canterbury, who in the 220 yards breaststroke established a world’s record of 3min 10 2-ssec. Atkinson won by twenty yards from W. E. Cookson, also of Canterbury, and bettered the world record of 3min 14sec held by P. Matson, of Western Australia. “IRON MAN” OF SWIMMING Freyberg was undoubtedly the “Iron Man” of New Zealand swimming, and one record still stands to his credit. That is for swimming the longest distance ever covered by a New Zealander, In January ,1912, he swam from Te Aroha to Paeroa along the Waihou River, a distance of thirty-five miles, taking ten hours for the journey. As a competitor, Freyberg was a member of the Wellington Swifts Club,, which went out of existence during the Great War. Freyberg’s greatest swim, of course, was at Gallipoli, with the opposition this time consisting of Turkish bullets. Just before the landing on 25th April, 1915, it was proposed to throw dust in the eyes of the Turks by landing a platoon at a point on the coast of the Gulf of Saros, where no serious landing was contemplated. To save the sacrifice of a platoon, Freyberg pressed to be

allowed to achieve the same object single-handed.

| His wish was granted, and on the night of 24th-25th April oiled. and naked, he swam ashore, towing a canoe containing flares and a revolver. He reconnoitred the enemy trenches and, under the covering fire of a destroyer, lit his flares at intervals along the beach After accomplishing the task he had some difficulty in finding his boat again, and was in the water for sqme houi's before being picked up. Tw'ice Freyberg essayed to swim the Channel. In 1925 he got within 400 yards of the English shore, and on the second occasion a year later he had to give up because of trouble arising from his many war wounds. Germans Off Honours Roll Nine enemy subjects have been struck off the roll of honorary members of the International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain. The names announced by the committee are: Dr Behrens, Otto Froitzheim. H. Hehkel, H. Kleinschroth, O. Kreuzer. Dr H. Landmann, R. Menzel, Dr H. Rau, and Baron F. von Rohrer. Henkel, aged 25, was in two Wimbledon finals last year, and he represented his country in the Davis Cup before he was 20. In 1937 he won the French and German championships. Roderick Menzel, formerly champion of Czechoslovakia, is now a member of Germany’s Davis Cup team. He ranks in the world’s best ten. and has lately been broadcasting in English from the Nazi stations. Cricket Innovation A small metal disc was used to mark the start of a bowler’s run in this season’s Sheffield Shield cricket. A South African innovation, used at Wanderers’ ground, Johannesburg the idea was first adopted in Australia by Queensland last season. The disc fits neatly into the turf by means of a prong, leaving the top flush with the surface and offering no obstruction. The secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, Mr Vernon Ransford, said that he considered the discs a splendid idea, both for assisting bowlers and preventing damage to turf. He thought a disc about the size of a 5s piece would serve the purpose. The disc was especially welcomed by fast bowlers and curators. Express bowlers were saved the task of excavating the ground with their heels before bowling, and curators the sad spectacle of this operation.

Strange As It Seems “Tell us another fairy tale,” said a spectator at a cricket match when it was announced that Don Bradman had made a “duck” in the inter-state cricket match that day. This expresses the surprise felt tn cricket circles writes an Australian paper, when it was known that Bradman, after making 886 runs in six innings in Shield games this season, had been dismissed first ball by an almost unknown fast bowler taking part in his first game. Although this is the first time Bradman has failed to score for South Australia, it is by no means his first “duck.” His most famous duck was in his first Test season against Jardine’s team in 1932-33. Batting on the Melbourne ground he tried to sweep to leg the first ball he received from Bowes, and pulled it into his wicket. He made amends in the next innings with a grand 103 not out. In the last series of Tests in Australia Bradman failed to score in the first Test in Brisbane—and Badcock and Fingleton kept him company. In the next Test in Sydney Bradman again failed, and O’Brien and McCabe also made “ducks.” However. Bradman got his own back with a vengeance in the tjext three games, making 13 and 270 in Melbourne. 26 and 212 in Adelaide, and 169 in Melbourne again But what is an odd “duck” or two to Bradman! Despite these failures he has the astonishing average of nearly 100 in his first-class cricket career. Other well-known cricketers have also had their failures. In the second Test at Lord’s in 1938 Badcock made * “pair,” and in the third Test in Adelaide in 1933 Fingleton achieved the same distinction. Badcock lias failed to score in four Test innings. Woodfull made five “ducks" in his Test career—but he also made the bowlers pay for that indignity •