CROSS-CHANNEL RACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27478, 26 August 1950, Page 5

CROSS-CHANNEL RACE

Egyptian Swimmer Wins

NEW TIME RECORD

NZPA—Copyright LONDON, Aug. 22.

Hassan Abd el Rehim, a 41-year-old Egyptian swimming ace, swam the English Channel today in record time to win the Daily Mail’s £IOOO international contest. His unofficial time was lOhr 52min, against the record of llhr smin held by the Frenchman, Georges Michel, and established in 1926.

Eight others—six men and two women—also completed the swim. The Daily Mail prize was contested by 18 men and 6 women from 12 countries. The newspaper offered £IOOO to the first man, and a similar sum to the first woman, and £250 to every swimmer who finished the course.

Rehim, who weighs 17st, and is the father of six children, narrowly beat Roger le Morvan (France), who led until an hour from the end. Morvan, who is 26 years of age, arrived in second place lOmin after Rehim, also breaking the old record. The third to finish was another Egyptian, Mareet Hassan Hamad. He arrived lhr 24min after Rehim. Rehim is the first man to swim the Channel three times. He did the crossing once from France to England in 1948, and last year crossed from England to France. He said he would spend his £IOOO on a launch to take his children boating on the Nile. It was Morvan’s first Channel swim, and he had only one hour’s training in the sea before the attempt. Attacked by Sharks A Greek, Panagiotis Kameros, was joined in his swim halfway across by a 15ft shark. His seconds, in a motor boat, snatched him from the water as the shark raced in to attack with three other sharks, which were also showing more than an academic interest in the Greek’s efforts. Successful contestants were staggering ashore anywhere up and down a six-mile stretch of coast line for 6hr 26min. Reporters had a hectic time cruising the waterfront in fast cars looking for interviews. The first woman arrival was an English Scripture teacher, 21-year-old Eileen Fenton. Those to finish were: Hassan Abd el Rehim (Egypt), lOhr 52min; Roger le Morvan (France), llhr 2min; Mareet Hassan Hamad (Egypt), 12hr lOmin; Sam Rockett (Britain), 14hr 20min; William Barnie (Britain), 14hr 50min; Eileen Fenton (Britain), 15hr 31min; Jasen Zirganos (Greece), 16hr 19min; Antonio Abertondo (Argentina), 16hr 25min; Jenny Kammersgaard (Denmark), 16hr 30min.