SWIMMING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7027, 15 January 1910, Page 14

SWIMMING.

[Br " Crawl,”]

FIXTUEES. February 12—Swifts A.S.A. February 13, 23, 25—N.Z. Champ'ships. February 26—Thorndon A.S.A. March 12—Wellington A.S.A.

NO REPRESENTATIVES!

. "That in terms of a resolution forwarded the council this centre has no intention of nominating any representatives to compete at tho championship meeting at Auckland next month."

The above resolution, tho preamble to which was the ominous growls and protests so prevalent in Wellington during tho past few weeks at the manner in which this city has been treated by tho council of the NewZealand Amateur -Swimming Association,'" was passed at a meeting of the local centre on Monday last. The events leading up to the sending, some wools as;o, of a strongly-worded protest -to tho parent body are too familiar to readers to need recapitulation, but the immediate cause of the drastic measures now resorted to, may not, perhaps, be so generally known. It was tho opinion of the Wellington officials, no doubt, that such a vigorous protest would receive at least the careful consideration of the council, and possibly a conciliatory reply. When, therefore, news came that the letter had been merely "received," 'and had not been accorded oven the slightest attention, Wellington doubtless felt that insult had been added to injury, and sio tho fiat, has gone forth, and it is now highly probable that Wellington will bo unrepresented at tho forthcoming championship:;. The wisdom of the course .adopted is not above That a strong protest was warranted nobody will deny, but tho withdrawal of Wellington representatives_ 'from the Now Zealand championships is a step which more mature consideration will show to bo foolish in the extreme. The absence of local swimmers from tho premier competitions will, in no way affect the New Zealand Council, for the weight of Wellington's misguided w-rath will fall on Auckland, with wham our relations are of the most oc.rdial description. Robbed of the presence of Reg. Hoaly, the championship meeting will be a fiasco, for the Auckland crack, Malcolm Gham.pion, will win tho events : with ease, and interesting comi>etitrons . and a largo gate will be highly imprio-bable. Moreover, the decision is likely to do incalculable harm to local swimming, for without the incentive of tho Not Zealand championships our champions are. not likely to give much time to serious training, and a decline in our standard will probably result. • The opinions of Auckland swimmers on.the Subject will probably bo interesting. Tho resolution certainly does net reflect the opinion of tho more soberimindtd followers of the sport in this city and the action taken can be re-, garded only as the precipitancy of a 'body of ho+r-headed officials. It is to be hoped that after more careful deliberation the Wellington Centre will teee the advisability of reminding; the resolution and obtaining iustice by a saner and more moderate method.' Threats of withdrawal a.nd _. attempts too" coerce the'council can only result in failure. Y.M.C.A. OLUB. The sixth annual oarnival of tho Y.M.C.A. Club, held at Te Aro Baths on Saturday last, was a highly successful affair, the attendance of the public ibeing nearly equal to the record number which patronised the gala of this popular club last year. Tie entries (were not quite so large as last year, ibut tliis in no way affected the racing, •which .was close and interesting throughout.. The arrangements were admirably earned out, tho events following _ each other with pleasing promptitude, and the officiails in charge liayo every reason to congratulate themselves on the result. Reg. Healy, who had been absent from Wellington during the week prior to the oarnival, and was consequently unable to -enter 'his name for any of the events, arrived back in town on Friday, the 7th inst., .and was permitted to start in the 220yds Kieran Memorial' Handicap, in which he gained fourth place. Ho is apparently in good form, and it is reported that, the Thorndon Club intends to supply him with a'trainer in view of the forthcoming New Zealand championship meeting at Auckland, in. February. Freyberg's performance .was rather disappointing, the of his supporters who had watched his training swims expecting him to show up to better advantage. The 50yds, President's Handicap attracted a large number, of competitors fmd the finishes were .exceedinrVly close. The winner was W. R. Smith (7sen), wlhto covered the distance in the very creditable time of 34 l-ssec. J. Stratford (4sec'> gained second place, and J. .Hfopkirk (Ssec) third. Stratford has (shown marked improvement of late, and ■with steady training should do still better before the season ends. luam and Patterson swam well'in their ihe,at and must have registered about 3<X?oc. "Pat," it is stated, w,o.s in anything but .good form, having done very little training, during the fortnight preoeding the carnival. Had he been in condition it is probable' that his showing in the lOQyds handicap would have been a great deal better.

'llhe diving competition: was anything but a sood display, the onlyperson (whose dives were at all up to sta.udard being tho winner, Roy "Nelson. Ho save some_vorv pretty exhibitions a.nd it was notioeable that his flight, formerly the worst feature of his dives, has improved wonderfully. .His emtrv also is neat and finished, and it is highly prioba.Me that a-- number; of this "s«a' son's divinit competitions will go h,i,«. I vmy. C. Moore, who was awarded second position, was in very indififercmti form, i pud many of those whio ■watched hisdisplny were of opinion that R. Neal (third) fihould have been rdneed s"oe.ud. ' Neial dived exceedEnc;ly well,' but spoilt his chances in tardive off by permittin<r his legs to bend ov*w. fihiw. his entry. The 100 yd"! hand'en.p .provided «t>me .radyhling finishes. The winner of the .first hea.t was -T. T)evine fl6sec), in tlie final fiiii-Sied second to O'Neill. TDev'Pe won his best without mivli trotjbl". p.nd in the final m,adn O'Neill ertiend himself. J. "WVireham, a ITK'vrTidon Ud. filled s-~?ond place to O'Neill in his h°at and finished third in the final. 'Wa.reham uses » rather ronqjh r.tr*\V«\ but one that Pulls him •rwn-r +.h<i 100 in ,si"t" p-"de'"Bosec. " r He third beat rrov°d a- soft thing for t-hn evergreen Freddv Roberta, with Brico close up second and Ward •> third'. O. Patter-on (4seo off ■Robert'') w-ns expected by seime +o have ir him the_ beating nf theslic'young Thhrndonite who filled se-o>irl nine, but Briee' wr"= iu=t to'' good for the Swifts' man. Brice's time, must |

have been just on 70sec. s o that Patterson failed to break 72sec. Brioa was shepherded over the entire, course bv his burlv clubmate Roberts, and appeared to* bo fully extended at the finish. Ward with 63e0 off Roberts and 2seo off "Brice, was a close attendant on that pair over the last twenty-five. His time must be regarded as not so good as usual, being fii tho neighbourhood of 76sec. The-rmal-saw Ward a- non--tarter. O'Neill "ot awav at a great bat, and at the turn had only Wareham and Devino troubling him The. former hung on grimly right up to within a. few yards of homo, whilst Devino was just caught at the post and beaten by a very i-ar-row margin. O'Neill's time for tho distance was 69 4-osec—tho best he has yet done. , Both Wareham and Devine swam excellently, the former proving himself possessed of a great heart for a finish. . Brico finished in the ruck, but it was not to he expected that ho could make up O'Neill's 2sec handicap. To do so he must have broken a New Zealand record. The rest of tho field were bunched. G. Brico (7sec) was bo badly interfered with in his heat as to be put quite out of tho race. When will borne swimmers learn that obstruotmg another (even though it be done unintentionally) is bad sportsmanship.'' Tho life-saving competition was carried off by E. Levy (47 points), whoso win was probably the most popular ot the dav. Rov Nelson (46) and C. Moore ."(45) (inevitable place getters in a life-saving competition) .were second and tliird respectively. The contestants in the 220yds '-"onan Memorial Handicap wero fairly numerous and the course was comfortably full when all wero in the water. W. Wilson and B. O'Neill, who both started from tho 32seo matrK, swam a dead boat, while C. M. Ward who was coming up fast, gamed thud rxvition. The tio was swam off on Wednesday last and resulted in a win for O'Neill, Wilson .succumbing to the solid pace set at the start and crying enough at the 200yds mark. The time was 2min. 58seo— an improvement of Ssec on Saturday's time. JQTTINGS. Mr H. A. Anderson, lion, secretary of the Wellington Club, returned to Wellington on Monday last after a holiday spent , m Auckland and Rotorua. Alec. Wickham, the popular, speedy swimmer, and holder of the worlds 50yds record, is suffering from "athlete's heart," and has been told 1 by his medical adviser not to take any violent exeTcise for some time. Tho refusal on Saturday last to permit R. J. Grimmett to swim in the events at thoY.M.C.A. Club's carnival has been an interesting topic of conversation at the baths during- the past week. In consequence of its action, the Y.M.C.A. Club has been requested by the centre" (which decided that Grimmett is - eligible to . swim)' to apologise.

A question of amateurism will be raised, at the next meeting of the Canterbury Centre with a protest that has been lodged against the awarding of the second prize to F. Hill, of the Fendolton Club, in the Mile Handicap at tiie I/yttelton Hegatta. It is contended that Hill .forfeited his amateur status in competing in the TimaruChristahurch hicycle road race, a professional event.

J. Devine, who gained second place in the 100yds handicap at.the Y.M.C.A. Club's carnival last Saturday showed marked improvement over that .distance. His time in the final' was about 82sec. whioh'compares very favourably with the 91sec registered by him about a, week ..before. He is. a good distance swimmer and should be heard of to advanta.ge in distance events ere long.

It is not at all improbable that that popular Thorndon. swimmer, G. Bruce, will soon -be- an absentee from the local baths. He lias recently been "retrenched'' and contemplates going in search of "fresh fields and pastures new," so that the Thorndon Club is In danger of losing,yet another of its best members. Should he decide, to leave Wellington his loss trill be severely felt, not only at Thorndon, but also at To Aro, where there was never a more welcome visitor.

At a recent meeting ; of the English Amateur Swimming Association a specimen model of the Webb Memorial Ti»phy for the Team Championship was submitted.to the committee by Mi* Doyle Jones, the sculptor. The trophy will bo a small model in silver of the memorial that is to be erected at Dover. The memorial will be of granite surmounted by a bust of Webb. In addition to the memorial and trophy for the championship a trophy is to be given to the Conway training ship. "'','' The Wellington Club decided a 50yds handicap for B grade swimmers on Wednesday last, twenty-eight competitors out of a. total of. about thirty-five entrants facing the starter. This total is a great,deal larger than that found in senior evente iand furnishes a good argument in favour of the retention of B grade events. W." Wilton, who won the fourth, heat out out the distance in 32 2-ssec—time whiehwill debar him from again competing in B grade races. J. Waretham is ' another wilio will have to confine himself to senior events in future, his time for his heat being &fcec. (The limit allowed for, a B grade swimmer is 36scc). The final was rather crowded, and the erratic swimming of some of the competitors did not improve matters. The result was a win for G. Donovon (13sec), H. Silver (lOsec) and B. Russell (9sec) dead-heating for ' second place.' The tie will be swum ■ off on Wednesday next.