SWIMMING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20316, 26 January 1928, Page 4

SWIMMING.

By Neptune. At the time of writing, two sessions only of the championships have been held —two sessions full of excitement, and noteworthy for brilliant swimming and keen racing. -Two seasons ago, anyone bold enough to predict that any swimming meeting held here could attract 1000 spectators would have been classed as the world’s premier optimist. Yet such has been the revival of interest in the sport locally, and so well has the Otago Centre done its job in organising the meeting, that packed houses have been the order of tl e day up till now, and indications point to this desirable state of affairs continuing until the close of the carnival. As yet. it is somewhat early to predict the ultimate destination of the Yaldhurst Shield, but Canterbury’s chances appear to bo particularly ros . principally, of course, through their champion, Lindsay. We in Dunedin have heard and read much of Lindsay, but the majority of us, prior to this meeting, have never been lucky enough to see him in action. Now we have scon him we are convinced he is a champion such as docs not appear every day. All distances seem the same to him. Rare it is indeed to find a swimmer who. though undoubtedly at the head of his class in furlong, quarter, half, and mile events, can compete successfully in a 100yds sprint and backstroke events. Y.Lindsay does this. Whether he dives or not I do not know, but if not, this appears to be the only branch of the sport in which he does not shine. His swimming is a thing to -wonder at. He has a long, powerful stroke, and when seen all out. one wonders if he could tire. Curiously enough, until he is seen against other swimmers he does not appear to be moving nearly as fast as he actually is. His swim in the mile was an instance of this. When one looked back on M’Leau and Stokes, both of whom covered the distance under standard time, and then saw the Canterbury crack a couple of laps ahead before half the distance was covered one gained some idea of his capabilities. His regularity was astonishing, and as his progressive times show, there was little variation in his speed throughout the race. His times were as follow: — 100yds, 66 2-ssec: 200yds, 2min 24 4-ssee; 300yds, 3min 46scc: 400yds, smin 7sec; 440yds, smin 40 2-ssec; 500ydU. Omin 29sec; 600yds, Bmin olsec; 700yds, Omin 15scc; 800yds, llmin 39sec; 880yds. llmiu 53 2-ssec; 1000yds. 13min 29sec; 1100yds, lomin 52scc; |-mile. 16min 57sec; mile, 24rnin 14 4-ssec. His final time lowered Malcolm Champion’s fresh-water record of 25min 1 4-ssec by no less than 47sec —truly the performance of a champion. In the 220 Yards he was equally impressive, and had the measure of his opponents after a lap had been covered. Ho gave the impression towards the finish that he had a considerable reserve “up his sleeve.” Cameron, the Wellington intermediate boy, is ever}'- inch a swimmer, and over all distances up to 220yds lie is capable of extending most seniors. He has a great roach and a powerful kick, and gets through the water without effort. His dive-off could well be emulated by a number of our local intermediates. In Palmer. Wellington has another intermediate who should go far, as he has all the qualifications of a champion, and I look to him and Gowan, of Wanganui, to be to the fore in future 100, 220, and 440 yards championship events. Over the shorter distances Palmer appears to be slightly the better of the two, but over a quarter-mile Gowan, although bo may. perhaps, not have the pace of the Wellington boy, swims with infinitely better judgment. Perhaps the best race of the meeting so far has been the 100 Yards Men’s Championship. Local enthusiasts were agog to see the Wanganui flyer. Dowsett, in action, and picked him as a likely winner. Many who considered they had inside information considered Enwright as a possibility; Canterbury supporters smiled and made a mental reservation to back their own champion, Lindsay. Of course, Lindsay was known best for his performances over the longer distances, and it therefore came as somewhat of a surprise to sec him fight out the final 20yds of the race with a recognised specialist over the distance. Dowsett, however, proved himself the champion. He is but unwinding a phenomenal burst of speed in the last few yards and getting home by a length. It was a great race, and very little separated the backrankers from the placed men. The veteran Enwright showed that time has not affected him greatly, and, in fact, he was well in the picture for the first two laps, and his time over the distance would get him a place in good company nine times out of 10. Fairgray did not appear to get going until the last lap, when he came to light with a great sprint to swim into third place. Farrell, the young Aucklander, swam well, but lack of experience told against him.

Gailato, the Wellington junior boy, is speedy and pretty to watch. Unfortunately, ho was not. pushed in the 100 yards event, otherwise I am convinced he could have lowered his t)me by a second or so. However, he is young, and, properly looked after, he will keep.

Again was a surprise sprung, and again did another fresh-water record go overboard, in the 100 Yards Ladies’ Championship. Incidentally, in this race, the titleholder. Miss Stocklcy, retained it, and thus established her undoubted right to bo chosen to tour Australia with Miss K. Miller. A northern writer, in view of the fact that Miss D. Magee recently ousted Miss Stocklcy as the Auckland sprint champion, asserted (and not without some reason) that the Now Zealand Council’s choice of Miss Stocklcy was somewhat promature. However, Miss Stocklcy by her swim on Saturday night, put at rest any doubts as to her qualifications. Miss Magee swam in a heat of the race, but did not appear to bo at the top of her form, probably through indisposition, and was easily beaten by "Miss K. Miller in slow time. The surprise of tho race, however, wag the great swim put up by Miss Miller in the final. Those who had seen her training hazarded the opinion that she would make a showing ip the 100 yards, but considered that, as it was not her distance, Miss Jcpson would be runnor-np. As it turned out, the 220 yards and 440 yards champion fought, every inch of the way with Miss Stnckley, and missed the decision by barely half a yard. The Auckland girl swam like a champion, but Miss Jcpson was not hn pressive and never looked like winning. Miss Magee, although she qualified in her heat, did not como forward in tho final. Miss E. Champion (Auckland) has established some great times recently, and was expected to take the intermediate girls’ ICO yards race. But for bad luck in fouling tho lanes just at tho finish of the race, it. is probable she would have won, too. This, nevertheless, does not detract from the merit of Miss A. Stratton’s win, as tno Wanganui girl by her swim, showed that she is a swimmer distinctly above tho ordinary. Considerable interest centred in the appearance of I/. J. Moorehouse (Canterbury) and L. Fairgray (Auckland), the respective record and title-holders for the distance, in the 150 Yards Backstroke Championship. To say which is tho better swimmer would be imposisble on their showing on Monday night, although tho Canterbury representative got the decision. Throughout the race there were inches only between the two of them, and Hoorehouse’s last kick just landed him on the rope with tho barest touch to spare. It was a great tussle. Tho übiquitous Lindsay also appeared in this race and put up a good swim for his third place. , , With the exception of Miss K. Miller s swim in the 220 Yards Ladies’ Championship there was little of interest in the race. The champion moved like a motor boat and won as she liked in fast time. Another veteran, C. Atkinson, showed that tho old brigade can still teach the youngsters something. His long plunge of Gift 3iin was a splendid effort. Young TUrr. Cedrics, who is. I think, the youngest competitor in the championships, Uceivcd an ovation alter winning easily_thc 75 Yards Boys’ Championship. He is game, and for his. age he is a remarkable little sportsman who takes ins wins and his losses in tho same spirit. Tho diving in tho intereluh open event was uniformly good, and Miss Copplestone’s win was well merited. Throughout, her flight and entry were good, and her display was altogether excellent. The New Zealand champion, Calder, apparently thought, in his running dive off the high board, that he was about to do a “ baby angel,” and brought his hands back haltwav through his flight. His entry was perfect, but a good dive was completely spoiled. Hicks, the Wellington champion, gave a good exhibition, but lost on flight on a couple of occasions.

So the championships are to be held in February in future, are they? The New Zealand Council has decreed so, the reason being that it is difficult for seniors to get away immediately after the Christmas holidays. Now, this is all very fine and large, but why are the seniors only considered? Surely we have juniors and intermediates coming on who do as much towards making a meeting a success as the seniors, and it does not appear to have struck the mover and the supporters of the remit that parents are not particularly keen on taking their children away from school just after it has resumed. To give an hour to discussing the advisability of abolishing tho New Zealand Council’s registration levy of Is as was done at the conference last week appears to be rather a waste of time. In fact, the whole business seems paltry. If the council is to have a reserve fund, which every central executive should have, it is only by a levy on swimmers that such a fund can be built up. Surely no swimmer would grudge such a small sum as Is. The water polo so far has not been of a high standard, and, indeed, one or two of tho mate-lies have been sheer fiascos. In some cases fairly good play has been witnessed, but on the whole tho games have been disappointing.