SWIMMING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22834, 19 March 1936, Page 5

SWIMMING

By NEPTtJNE,

FIXTURES .March 21.—Cromwell Club's carnival. March 22.—Carnival at Middlemarch. .March 25.—University championships. April 3 and 4.—Primary schools' championships. Club Hours—Mondays (8.45-9.45 p.m.), St. Clair and St. Kilcla; Tuesdays (6-7) and Thursdays (8.45-9.45), Kiwi; Wednesdays and Fridays (8.45 to 9.45), Dunedin; Saturdays (8.45-9.45), Knikorai; Tuesdays (8.45-9.45), centre's polo hour. All club hours mentioned above are at the Municipal Baths. Zenith Club hours nightly at the Y.M.C.A Baths except Fridays. KING'S HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS The organisers of the King's High School's first swimming sports have every reason to be satisfied with the success of the fixture, both from the point of view of entries and of performance. As is always inevitable in an initial venture ot this kind, there were, of course, one or two outstanding performers, who more or lees " scooped the pool," but generally npeaking, the swimming on Thursday last was as good as could reasonably be expected in the circumstances. One thing it did demonstrate very clearly, however, was the benefit of club coaching, for it was noticeable that in nearly every race the placed competitors were members of one or another of the local clubs. It was one of those unique meetings where every time registered was a record, and while, perhaps, the figures were on the -slow side, they are at least a mark for aspiring school champions to tilt at next year, when, no doubt,- the standard of performance will have considerably improved. ; Mr W. Wood, himself a keen swimmer,.has-worked wonders in arousing such keen, enthusiasm in the sport within six week'6 of the opening of the school, and .with the.material he. has to work on there is no reason .why, within a year or'so, the. King's High School swimming-sports ehould not rank among the most important fixtures of its kind in the-sea6on's.calcndar. The school senior champion. A. R. Pritchard, swam consistently well throughout; perhaps his best performance being in the 220' .Yards Championship. In this race he revealed the makings of a nice even stroke' with a good glidfe, and his general ''form' showed that he would find it worth, his while to cencentrate on the longer distances. Pritchard is a product of'the St. Glair Club. and. a member of one of the junior life-saying teams. A. C. Keen, who was runner-up to Pritchard in the Senior Cup Competition, has a good arm stroke, but there is room for a good deal of improvement in his kick. (fifteen raiautei or so each day on a tube or paddle board would do him a lot of good. . 1 P. D. Young, the winner of the Junior Cup, is a promising young, swimmer, but in hie. case also, lack of stroke and kicking practice was very evident. He b capable of cutting a good deal off his times if he will leave competition alone for a while and concentrate first on his kick, then on hie arms, and then on coordinating the two. Plenty of slow work when he has mastered the mechanics or freestvle, will work wonders with him.' It seemed a pity that W; ISewell, who won the 66 2-3 Yards Open Breaststroke Handicap, did not have a go at the championship on this style, as he possesses everything that goes to make a first-class breaststroke swimmer. In the hands of a good coach, he would certainly develop, into a speedy breastroker. At present he is inclined to hurry matters too much, with the result that he gets the maximum propulsion neither from his arms or his legs. V. D._ Agnew. who was runner-up to Young in the Junior Cup competition, is another lad with distinct possibilities, and one who should go far. with proper coaching. CLUB NOTES DU&EDIN; The Dunedin Club's, championships were commenced on Friday evening last, when five events were decided. The results were as follows:—50 Yards Men's. Ireestyle—E. B. Toasel, J. D. O'Dfiscoll 2, B. Kerr 3., Time,'26 l-ssec. . _ 33 I*3 Yards. Backstroke.—Mies J. Harris L B. Ingram 2, M. M'Farlane 3: Time, 21 l-ssec. ■ . , . ■.,;. 10D-Yards Ladies' Breaststroke.—Miss M. Ma'thfison 1. Miss P. Duncan.2..Time. lmiii-iSfeec. .''■'-'. m, ':'■''_ "■ ' ■' '■ _i _, 220 Yards Men's Freestyle.—E. B. Toase 1, J. D. O'Driscoll 2. J. Clulee 3; Time, 2min 47sec. • After many/postponements, the club was fortunate- enough on Sunday at last to be able to hold its harbour race. It was no day for harbour racing for the weather conditidns were shocking; nevertheless, half a- dozen "irdnharks" were. game enough: to brave the chilly wind and rough' water, with' the- result that the race proved more interesting than might have' been expected. Very wisely., the officials" controlling the race decided that half the usual one and a-half miles would, in the circumstances, be quite far enough for the swimmers, who, had it not been that the water was very cold, were not set a very difficult task in covering 880 yards with the wind and tide in their favour. There could have been no more popular win than that of Miss Pat Duncan, who. from the time she dived off. never varied her stroke until she reached the finishing line. Than Mis s Duncan, there is no more conscientious trainer in Dunedin, and her victory was well-deserved. It is worth mentioning that she cycled down to'Maeandrew Bay to compete, and cycled home again after the race was over. Truly there are some keen sportswomen among Dunedin lady swimmers. The doughty Batt Cup winner, J. O. Byrnes, maintained his habit of registering fastest _ time or thereabouts in open water swims, and swam into.second place as well as taking the honours for time. As usual, Brian Kerr, good sportsman that he is. was amomr the finishers, and had it not been that he took an outside course over the final quarter of a mile, his time would have been faster. A. Campbell, the voungest competitor in the race, put up a remarkably plucky effort in covering about two-thirds of the distance, and .although be was handicapped by not having a pilot dinghy, he hung on gamely until the cold got the better of him and compelled him to withdraw.. - Always on hand to assist a sister sport, the commodore of the North-East Harbour Boating Club, Mr Rowlands, very generously put his launch at the disposal ot the officials and arranged for dinghies and rowers to follow the race. To him. and th members of the club who so willingly "their services, and to the committee which allowed the use of its shed for the competitors to dress in. the swimmers and the members of the Dunedin Club are under a debt of gratitude. It might be as well, however, to remind some of those who attend these harbour races (and rarely assist in any official capacity) that to swarm all over the launch of a man who is good enough to put it at the disposal of the officials, not only savours of imposing on good nature, but also constitutes the grossest discourtesy? CLUB'S HARBOUR RACE In the race for the Styche Cup, which was swum on Saturday afternoon under adverse weather conditions, a small field of six competitors faced the starter Mr L Highfield). The cub had been unfortunate" in having had twice 0 « this event, and on account of the 'nadwsability of waiting until the temperature became anv colder it was decided to hold the race without taking overhead conditions into consideration The .course was a smooth one until the swimrneis reached the end of the Birch street wharf. From here to the first pile the sea was vcrv choppy, but it was not until this point was turned that really rough conations were experienced. Once inside the basin again, however, the return journey to the punt was much easier, ,1 lough at this stage competitors were feelintr the effects of the cold water. The limit man, J. Thompson, opened a --an of 20 yards on D. M'Lachlan. who Very strongly. Three minutes later E. Moore, A. Hanna and W. Baling! who were all off the; same mark, were sent away to be followed by K. Nelson, the scratch man, one minute and a-half later. Thompson withdrew on account of the cold before the Bnch street wharf was reached. Nelson caught the middle-markers on approaching the -pile. At this stage M'Lacnlan had a 70 v-nrds' lead and never looked like being headed. On the homeward journey Nelson moved into second place and was nerrotinting the rough going in good style. W'th only 20 yards to go M'Lachlan had only 10 yards in hand from Nelson. Moore was swimming strongly on the breaststroke, 40 yards further back third. Over the last few yards Nelson staged a fast finish and just managed to head M Lachlan by the close margin of two yards. Moore was 30 yards buck in third place, followed by Darling and Hanna together

nuother 25 yards further away. Result:—M. K. Nelson (scr). 1:.. D. M'Lachlan (smin). 2; E. Moore (IJmin), 3; W. Darling (ljmin), 4; A. Hanna (Hniin), 5- . , , ~ The course was approximately threequarters of a mile and the winner's time was 21min 13sec. The thanks of the club are due to Roy Oeddes and the Patterson Bros, for the use of a launch and dinghies. The kindness of the harbour master in rendering every assistance was also much appreciated.