SWIMMING

Southland Times, Issue 22188, 2 December 1933, Page 15

SWIMMING

(By

“Trudgeon.”)

■ AT THE BATHS. CLUB HOURS. Murihiku: Monday, 6.15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Ex-Pupils': Tuesday, 5.45 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Collegiate: Wednesday, 6.15 p.m. to 7.0 p.m. Orcti Surf: Thursday, 8.50 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. Advice has been received by the centre that Miss D. Symon’s records for the junior girls’ 50 yards and 100 yards distances have been recognized by the New Zealand Council and will henceforth rank as New Zealand records. The times, which were established at the Collegiate Club’s carnival, are 30 2-ssec and Imin 10 2-ssec re-' spectively. The New Zealand Council in its annual report has a word of praise for the manner in which the New Zealand intermediate and junior championships at Invercargill in January were conducted. “Despite the fact that Southland is the junior centre of the association,” states the report, “it displayed organizing ability of so high a quality that the meeting has been described by those who saw it as a model which other centres might well copy.”

Miss Joyce Cooper, all-round English swimming champion, has accepted the invitation to visit Australia; but it is doubtful if there will be a male overseas star in Australia this season. The Japanese turned down an invitation, and although New South Wales officials are considering the possibilities of getting J. Gilhula, U.S.A. 100 yards champion, or J. Medica, the new distance record-breaker, the general opinion is that the terms could not be made sufficiently attractive without impairing amateur ethics. The New South Wales Amateur Swimming Association did great work in the winter months coaching about 59 of the most promising swimmers at Tattersall’s pool (says the Sydney Referee). Each swimmer was given six minutes’ instruction one night a week and after each session there was 20 minutes’ general swimming. During the year the selected swimmers were shown films of the leading American and Japanese exponents and a weekly bulletin was issued for the information of the boys on contentious matters as regards style, etc. Some of the swimmers Dud Hillmrich had in hand were Bob Wiltshire, Vic Besomo, Ivo Wyatt, Jerry Visscher, Carl Phillips, and A. Burge. And as the honorarv coach says, “If you only get one Wiltshire a year, it is ample repayment.’ _ _ _ .... In conjunction with his sprint victory over Noel Ryan a month ago the performances of Bob Wiltshire recently reveal him as Australia’s most promising world-class material since Boy Charlton. Swimming in a medley relay at Balmoral, the giant schoolboy in his third competitive day of the season covered the 100 yards in 55sec\ Actually two of the watches credited him with a fifth of a second better. What makes the performance the more remarkable is the fact that Wiltshire dived off 20 yards clear of the opposition, and so he had to make all his own pace. Later in the afternoon he clocked 23 3-ssec. in a 50 yards race —another effort that might 'have gone into the record book if record-breaking conditions had prevailed In some quarters, the opinion is held that Wiltshire caught Ryan on the hop as it were the previous Saturday—that Ryan was not properly in training. Ryan -would be the first to scout that theory. He was in good condition, and, as is usual with him early in a season was sprinting well. He is of the opinion that Wiltshire is the makings of Australia’s greatest sprinter. Weighing 14 stone and 6ft sin in height. this°ls-year-old schoolboy has one of the cleanest, least strenuous strokes in big swimming—he seems to glide along. In fact his action is so placid, that not so long ago quite a lot of people thought he would never go far-he was not a trier, they declared. However Bob has dissipated that idea, and he is taking his coaching very seriously “Budge” Hewison. perennial president of the Balmoral Club, is naturallv very proud of the schoolboy star, but he has two qualms—that Bob might be exploited, and that he might ge overly interested in the surf. Incidentally, students of eugenics should imd Wiltshire a subject of interest. H;S father is 6ft 4in in height and his grandfather, one of the early Mayors of Sydney, was the tallest Sydneysider of his day—6ft 7in.

EX-PUPILS’ CARNIVAL

A POOR ATTENDANCE.

Somebody neglected . to warn the public that the Ex-Pupils Clubs carnival was to be held on Wednesday night and so the attendance was most disappointing. The entries were not so plentiful as has been the case in past carnivals, but qualitatively they were excellent. However, the carnival should convey a lesson in the necessity of forethought for the future. Another record, a provincial one this time, went by the board during the evening, Miss N. Basstian clipping o 3-ssec off her own record for the 220 yards ladies’ freestyle championship. The race was swum in conjunction with the 220 yards men’s freestyle championship, and although she was the only entrant for the ladies’ event, Miss Basstian had a number of pacemakers throughout the distance. Her performance was a sterling one, but the time is still below the New Zealand standard. J. B. Collie stepped into P. H. McGrath’s shoes in the 50 yards intermediate boys’ freestyle championship by defeating D. Davis by a yard. T.ie rope was not in place when was finished, but fortunately the placed competitors were well separated. No time was taken for the event. For some reason T. Polson, the holder, did not compete in the 75 yards junior boys’ - breaststroke championship and A. Barnes was the only competitor. The 220 yards men’s freestyle championship attracted five entries, the holder, F. W. Springford, being displaced by P. H. McGrath, who won by four yards in a romp home. Springford was second and P. Malthus, who only needs experience, third. There were six handicap events on the programme, all of which provided keen competition. Boring did not appear to be so prevalent as it has been in the past and it looks as if the rope lanes are beginning to stop the habit at last. A feature of the races was the closeness of the finishes, demonstrating the good work of the handicapper. Mr N. Kidd. In the open dive handicap A. W. Wesney demonstrated that he has climbed well back into form and his diving was a picture. He had an easy win right from scratch and his performance was sufficiently good to inspire his supporters with optimism.