CHAMPION SWIMMERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21113, 22 February 1932, Page 12

CHAMPION SWIMMERS.

; RETURN OF AUCKLANDERS. CLOSE SHIELD COMPETITION. LADY MEMBERS SUCCESSFUL. The Yaldhurst Shield, the symbol of .{nterprovincial swimming supremacy, was brought back to Auckland on Saturday lor the fourth successive year by the representative team which competed at the New Zealand national swimming championship meeting in Timaru last week. According to the manager of the team, Mr. L. Kenny, competition for the shield was close, the points being well distributed among the various centres. Auckland and Canterbury were the chief contenders and there was much speculation over the issue. The Auckland team, although comparatively small in number, achieved some notable successes and ultimately won the shield by seven points. G. Bridson was top scorer with 19 points, then followed Misses Marie Farquhar, 15; Peggy Robertson, 9; Natalie Stratton, 7; Margario O'Meara, 5; and The lady members of the party contributed 37 of the total of 56 points, said Mr. Kenny, and the shield would have been lost had they not swum so surprisingly well. All had been placed in championship events. Miss Farquhar, who won three titles, was the most successful, while a championship each was won by Miss Robertson, who also secured one second and one third placing, and by Miss O'Meara. Miss Stratton was second in two contests and third in another, a third position being also awarded to Miss Lewin. The feature of the. meeting, said Air. Kenny, was the fine swimming of D. I'. Lindsay, of Canterbury, who decisively wrested threo distance titles from the holder, G. Bridson. Lindsay had made a most- remarkable "come-back," and was in infinitely better form than ever before. Equally high-class performances had, however, been put up by Bridson,who was still unbeatable over 100 yards and a furlong. The exceptionally heavy freshwater were not conducive to record-breaking swims, and so only one new national standard had been established. ' . Mr.. Kenny . warmly commended th« South Canterbury Centre on the efficient manner, in which it had controlled the meeting, and praised (ho work of two officials, Mr. H. H. Fraser, president, and Mr. W.' Carlton, honorary secretary. Keen public interest was aroused by the meeting, about 5300 persons attending the three) carnivals, with the result that the controlling body received considerable financial benefit. An application from Auckland for the next' senior championship meeting was rejected, said Mr. Kenny, in reviewing the business done at the annual conference of delegates. Hawke's Bay was allotted that meeting and Invercargill the junior and intermediate events. Suggestions from Auckland, one recommending the decision of the -• two classes of championships in conjunction as formerly, and the other the transfer of the headquarters of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association from Christchurch to Wellington, did not meet with the approval of Southern delegates. On account of the financial stringency and low state of its own funds the New Zealand Council advised, the conference tliat the question of sending representatives to compete in the swimming events at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles next August would have to be deferred.