MARATHON SWIMMING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22399, 21 April 1936, Page 16

MARATHON SWIMMING

FEATS BY AUSTRALIAN Completing his swim of 1225 miles in a year, Geoffrey Gillam finished by beating the record for a five mile river swim in the Yarra River, Victoria. Gillam had swum three miles or more daily since April 1 last year in the first marathon performance of its kind. His swimming time was about 600 hours.

The 26-vear-old Victorian realised his wish to tackle the world's record downstream swim of 2 hours 5 minutes for five miles, which was held by George Young, of America. He covered the distance in the Yarra in 2 hours 1 minute 45 seconds, swimming from Bridge Road (Hawthorn) to the Henley staging. Although helped early by a fast stream, Gillam had to contend with choppy water in the last half-mile. He was also troubled by'a poisoned finger on his left hand. Ho intends, after a rest of about two months, to attack Young's record for five miles in a pool. Gillam began the last five miles at 10 a.m. and finished a quarter of a minute before 12.2 p.m. His ambition is to visit America and take part in the famous marathon races over distances ranging from 10 to 20 miles.