MARANUI SWIMMERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 17997, 26 January 1933, Page 11

MARANUI SWIMMERS

APPEARANCE* TO-NIGHT SOME PINIE PERFORMANCES Included in the team of swimmers representing the Maranui dub, Wellington, which arrived in' Gisborne' yesterday afternoon, are some of the finest exponents of life-saving in New Zealand. Although most of the members have also good swimming performances to their credit, the team is strongest on the life-saving side, and* one qf its reasons for going on tour is, in addition to racing, to give demonstrations of life-saving work, the need for instruction in which is borne out every day in the number of drowning fatalities in yarious parts of the. Dominion arid - in other countries.

Tlia Maranui club, .which is recognised as one, of the finest life-saving' clubs in New Zealand, arid which is the present holder of the Nelson Shield, has included its senior team, consisting, of E, B; Hughes, C. Claridge, I. MeHardy, K. Hoy, T. Hewitt 1 , J. Hewitt, G. Rose, and' A. DeCosta, iii the party of swimmers at present in Gisborne; Undoubtedly the best record is that possessed by C. Claridge, who, from the age of 10, has been in prominence in Wellington. He started his career by winning various school championships, and later, in intermediate swimming, swept everything before him. As an intermediate he reached his peak when at the age of 16 he won every event in hit class' at' the New Zealand championships held in Timani.

Entering senior swimming, he was fated with stiff competition in Dowsett, Adamson, Elnwriglit, Camerdn, arid over the longer distances in Lindsay and Bridson, and, although he was at the top of his class in several provincial distances, he always found himself compelled to take second and third places in national championship swimming. Nevertheless, he has represented Wellington continuously since 1920, and - on oiie occasion won'all;the pnwhmud championships. In 1929 Claridge was in the champion water polo team; and in the same year won the Annette Kellerman Co" and registered the fastest time. In 1983, also, lie swam the Wellington harbor, a 1 distance of seven miles, in three arid a-half hours. He is the only man to have crossed the harbor, and', in the opinion of one member of the team, is the only man' likely to, owing to the intense cold; To add to his swimming achievements, he is a prominent meriiber of the club’s senior life-saving teani, and with it has shared the liondr of winnirig the Nelson' Shield on several occasions.

In another branch of sport, football, Claridge has also participated with distinction. Playing for Old 1 Boys, lie represented: Wellington on and on bet'weeri 1926 and 1929.

E. B. Hughes, the captain of the senior life-saving team, has competed in the NeW Zealarid ‘championships and' in local competitions since 1923. He is credited with havirig taught the team all it knows about life-saving,, anch under Iris leadership teams' of the club have brought home over 50 trophies. I. MeHardy,’ another prominent expo neat of life-saVirig, first' showed promise as a swimmer in Taranaki, and joined up later with the! Mahihui club. He first came into prominence in the club’s team in 1923 and has been a member of it ever since; For flvp years he was •captain of the MiiHst Old Boys’ senior football 1 team, and in 1924 represented Wellington. Ho Inis' rdWed'also for the Star Boating Club. J: E. Alexander began lifb-savitlg as

a junior in 1911, and, after spending some years with the Worser Bay club, joined up with the Maranui club in 1921. In 1922 he became a member of the club’s senior team, and, although lie retired about four years ago, he is the sole surviving representative of the team that first took the Nelson Shield to Wellington iii 1923, when fihe Canterbury team was defeated.

Alexander is also a member of the criuncil of the New Zealand Sjurf LifeSaving Association, which wap formed in Wellington last year to control surf life-saving throughout New Zealand, and which has been entrusted by the Royal Life-Saving Society with’ all work on the beaches.

At the carnival to-night, the water ■polo match, no doubt, will be watched with interest. Although!- looking the services of a. number of their senior players, who did not go on tour as there were junior players excelling them as all-round swimmers, Maranui has, nevertheless, a strong team to field, which has gained a certain amount of combination during the progress of their, tour. The following team has been selected by Mr. D. M. Grade to represent the local players Goal, W. MicKeague; backs, W. Wilkie and; M. Owen; half, R. Oederwall; forwards,’ H. Martin, H. Green, D. Armstrong. Emergencies, G. Maunder and A. Annabel.