SOUTHLAND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Southland Times, Issue 23141, 6 March 1937, Page 21

SOUTHLAND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The First Series Of

Events

(By

“Lifebelt”)

Coming Events March 6 and 7—Otago Surf Life-Saving Championships at St. Clair. March 10, 15, 17—Southland Championships at the Municipal Baths, 8.30 p.m. Last Wednesday the first series of championship events was swum at the baths, and some very keen racing took place. The most surprising and exciting race of the evening was the women’s 100-110 yards freestyle championship, which resulted in the defeat of Miss Nancy Basstian by Miss Moira McGrath. This is the first occasion on which Miss Basstian has suffered defeat in a championship race over more than 50 yards in Southland. Both girls recorded a magnificent swim and showed more than the usual amount of pluck. To swim 100 yards in 70 l-ssec with less than a fortnight’s training and carry on to 110 yards in 78 2-ssec shows the capabilities of these two girls, especially when we compare their times with that of the Aucklander, Miss K. Grey, who has suffered no interruptions in training and registered only -68 2-5 sec in the fast Auckland pool. Getting off to a splendid start, both girls immediately clapped on the pace and after the first length they touched together in 19 3-ssec. Miss McGrath lost on the turn, and at the end of the second lap Miss Basstian touched about one foot in front in 43 3-ssec. Once again she was the faster round. In the final lap Miss McGrath swam with great determination, gradually making up her leeway, and 20 feet from the end both were level. Miss McGrath maintained her sprint and touched the 100 yards marks one foot ahead. On the race back to the 110 yards she. succeeded in holding her lead, finishing the journey in 78 2-ssec. It was easily one of the most exciting races ever seen in the pool. The 100 yards counts as the Southland championship and the 110 yards as a time trial for the national ranking list. Had this race been only 100 yards it is more than likely that it would have been won in faster time than 70sec. Malthus Retains Title Pat Malthus had no difficulty in retaining his quarter-mile title and swam well to register smin 44 3-ssec. His time was about ssec slower than last year’s but lack of training facilities, which has affected all competitors here this year, should account for this. Strang was very slow off the mark and Springford went into the lead, the first lap taking 18sec. Springford was increasing his lead at 66 2-3yds, done in 42 3-ssec, and at 100 yards was well clear of the rest. The 100 yards took 66sec. Malthus led the rest of the bunched field, with Strang gradually falling back. In the next lap Springford came right back to the field and Malthus went into the lead from Springford, Berry, Osmond and Kidd, all in a line. Malthus passed the 220 yards mark in 2min 43sec and was 20 feet clear with the others’ positions unchanged. Strang retired at this stage. For the following two laps Malthus kept increasing his lead and Berry began to show out from Osmond and Kidd, who were together. Springford had made his dash and was failing rapidly. The race continued in the same manner, Osmond beginning to head Kidd and Springford retiring with two laps to go. Coming down the pool for the last time, Malthus was well in the lead with Berry second followed by Osmond, just ahead of Kidd. - Malthus completed the distance 9sec ahead of Berry, with Osmond third and Kidd fourth. The unofficial times for the placed men were: Berry, 5.53 4-5; Osmond, 6.1; Kidd, 6.5. A feature of this race was the great, improvement shown by Osmond and Kidd, who have never recorded times within seconds of these. Margery Day was the only entrant for the women’s 220 yards breaststroke event and had to swim over the distance. In the circumstances, and as she had only three training swims to her credit, her time of 3min 53 2-ssec was quite good. Miss Day showed a good style of breaststroke and finished briskly. Her first 100 yards were covered in 97sec. Error of Judgment Colin Martin paid the price of inexperience when he allowed Brown to win the 110 yards backstroke championship. Swimming his first championship race, Martin flew into the lead and covered his first lap in 21 4-ssec. Going up the second lap, he was still increasing his lead. The two laps were

covered in 48 3-ssec and Martin was well ahead of Malthus and Brown, who were together. In the third lap Martin faded badly and he reached the 100 yards mark in 76 3-ssec, only a touch ahead of Brown, who was a similar distance ahead of Malthus. A bad turn proved costly to Martin, and Brown went on to win comfortably with Martin struggling to tie with Malthus for second place. Brown recorded 84 2-ssec for the 110 yards, which was not very good for him. Malthus swam well to finish so closely, but Martin should have won the race. Very poor turning combined with too fast a pace over the first two laps caused his defeat. Shaw made no bones about winning the senior breaststroke of 220 yards -and cleared right away from Osmond and Lindsay to win by 40 feet, Osmond being about a similar distance ahead of Lindsay. Shaw, being an intermediate, is ineligible for the title, which goes to the winner of last year s race, Osmond. Shaw’s time of 3.17 2-5 was well inside Norman Kidd’s Southland record, but of course Shaw’s time does not count. Osmond recorded 3.30 1-5 an improvement on last year’s performance. Lindsay, who was swimming his first 220 yards race, had no idea of pace and as a consequence was further back at the finish than was expected. However, he appeared to enjoy his swim, if smiles count for anything at the finish, and will no doubt benefit by the experience. Shaw covered his first 100 yards in 83 2-ssec and Osmond and Lindsay, who were together at that stage, in 90sec. Auckland Events Miss Nancy Ludlow caused a surprise in Auckland when she pushed Miss Mona Leydon to break the New Zealand record for 220 yards before Miss Leydon could beat her. Miss Ludlow must have equalled the existing record of 2.46 held by Miss Marie Farquhar, as. she was barely a touch behind Miss Leydon, who recorded 2.45 4-5. Frankham was beaten twice by Pat Hanan, who won .the 100 and 220 yards Auckland championships in 54 4-ssec and 2.26 1-5 respectively. Frankham was second on each occasion. Miss Barbara Lewin (Mrs Stockley) was expected by many to break Ena Stockley’s old standing record of 76 3-ssec for the 100 yards backstroke, but she failed by 3sec, registering 79 3-ssec. Miss Lewin did not compete at the New Zealand championships last year because of illness and consequently did not meet Miss Basstian, who won the title there. McGee arid Taylor dead-heated in the men’s breaststroke in 3.14 3-5. Miss J. Webster was the winner of the women’s breaststroke in 3.43 1-5 and Miss Grace Priestley was runner-up. The intermediate girl, Miss K. Grey, succeeded in staving off Miss Ludlow to win the 100 yards in 68 2-ssec, and A. Raper suffered defeat at the hands of Orwell, who won the men’s 100 yards .backstroke in 73 3-ssec. Surfing

The Oreti Surf Club will be represented at St. Clair today and tomorrow by the following teams:— Six-man for the Sports Trust Shield:—S. Glennie (captain), P. R. Malthus, F. W. Springford, W. A. Springford, A. Brown, D. Davis, Owen Davis. Macassey Cup (four-man Relay).— P. R. Malthus, F. W. Springford, A. Brown, Dudley Davis. Hope Cup (four-man alarm). —P. R. Malthus, F. W. Springford, S. Glennie, W. A. Springford. A. Brown is emergency- . , ~ At present the Macassey Cup is held by die Oreti Surf Club, which is fielding another strong team this year, and it hopes to retain the cup. St. Clair will need all the luck it can get to finish in front of rile four Southlanders. Balloting for positions may upset Oreti in the six-man competition, but taking the team as a whole it is a very sound one. W. A. Springford and Owen Davis may be the weakest swimmers, but they can both handle surf well and given a good surf Davis would probably* hold his own with faster still-water swimmers. The St. Clair beach usually has a good supply of rollers for com-i petitions. With anything like a good: draw Oreti will be hard to beat. The; third event is the four-man contest! and here again Oreti is very sound., Malthus is in the belt again and if he; is wise he will-take a landmark before taking the water and by keeping it in sight and not looking for the buoy should keep a better course than he has done previously. Much will depend on time in this event and the result is very open.