Season’s Last Swimming Carnival Has Been Planned For Juniors

Southland Times, Issue 23782, 1 April 1939, Page 15

Season’s Last Swimming Carnival Has Been Planned For Juniors

By

LIFEBELT

CLUB HOURS Monday, 6.15-7.15 p.m.—Murihiku. Tuesday.—No club hour (carnival night). Wednesday. 5.45-6.45 p.m.—Collegiate. Thursday, 6.15-7.15 p.m.—Murihiku. COMING EVENTS April 4.—Murihiku inter-club carnival. What appears to be the final carnival of the year is the Murihiku meeting on Tuesday. This is the second carnival sponsored this season by Murihiku and the programme is brightened by some unusual aspects of swimming.. First is the fact that the carnival is designed primarily for juniors and the club has come into some disfavour among several seniors who have very _ little scope for competition. However if the events are for juniors it can be taken for granted that that was the object which the club’s committee is aiming at and when it is remembered that the Murihiku Club has a membership approaching 300, mostly juniors, the idea behind this particular programme is apparent. No fewer than six Herbert Smith Trust Cup races are included, three being for girls and three for boys and although sometimes these contests have had disappointing entries, so far the fields for this year are particularly good. The usual tiny tot races over one length or over the width have the promise of bigger entries and it may be necessary to run off an extra length for beginners only. An innovation for Southland is a scratch medley competition for which Mr A. V. Osmond has presented to the centre a cup which is to be known as the Osmond Cup. The conditions are for one medley race over 100 yards and a second medley race over 300 yards. These medley races are very popular in other countries and most have a definite championship race on the national programme. This particular event always had the support of Mr Osmond and the idea he had behind his conditions for his cup was that once started this event would become more popular and gradually become an accepted event on programmes. K. Shaw looks a certainty for the cup this year as he is undoubtedly the best allrounder in the province. Although the 100 yards event may see him pushed, he should win fairly comfortably over the longer course of 300 yards. To those who have not seen a medley race, the event consists of three styles of swimming in one race, that is, equal distances of breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. Thus, in the 100 yards on Tuesday night the swimmers will swim one length of each style and in the 300 yards, they will cover 100 yards with each style. A dual relay, one man and one girl in a team, is the only race open to everybody and very good entries have been received for it. One notable entry is P. H. McGrath who will be swimming with his sister, Miss M. McGrath. A novice dive is included and the youngsters are being encouraged to dive by barring those who have had wins and keeping the dives simple. There are many neat divers among the children and good coaching could soon bring on an embarrassing number but diving coaches are scarce. One novelty event which should prove popular is musical chairs, or in this case, musical hoops. Hoops are being lashed togethei l and the swimmers will be asked to move round and round them in exactly the same fashion as the land game, but every time the music stops there will be two hoops too few for the swimmers, so the scramble to dive and come up through a hoop should provide a good deal of amusement for spectators. D. C. Berry, Southland backstroke champion, will be attempting the

Southland 150 yards backstroke record, and an exhibition of backstroke swimming will be given by the brilliant young Southlander, Miss Joyce Macdonald, who holds all New Zealand titles and records in both intermediate and senior competition. Rounding off the programme is an experiment. This is the screening of the New Zealand educational film. “It’s Easy to Swim.” The projector will be in front of the women’s boxes, and the white-washed wall opposite the spectators’ gallery will form the screen. There is no doubt that this film will hold the interest of the public and should prove a most successful novelty To cater for the fast swimmers, an invitation 100 yards scratch race will be held in which P. McGrath will probably take the mark and it will be very interesting to see how the former Southland title holder will fare against his old rivals. POINTS FOR SWIMMERS Misses M. Cushen and B. Croad are promising freestylers belonging to the Collegiate Club and they are moving along well. The former girl carries her left elbow rather low which spoils the hand entry and recovery. She should peak the elbow more to aid the hand entry. Miss Croad is showing progress but needs to pay more attention to her breathing which is not quite right. ' In the same club are two boys, H. Sandri and L. King, both of whom require more hard work with plenty of kicking practice and distance swimming to improve them. The Murihiku Club has good junior boys in Howard Parkinson and David Doake. Both boys are very keen. Parkinson and Doake both have a slight fault in that they are making the hand entry a little too wide. They should place the hands in the water just in front of the shoulder but no wider. The Wilson sisters, Olive and Carmel, are showing greatly improved style, particularly the former, whose backstroke is very promising. The latter is making her pull a little too short and is not paying enough attention to the hand entry. B. Kirkpatrick has a very weak kick and should practise much harder at that. He should also keep his fingers closed when pulling; open fingers spill a lot of water. Results of Collegiate races:— Men’s 220 freestyle championship.— C. Martin 1, E. Nutsford 2. Time, 2min 52 l-ssec.

Women’s 220 yards championship.— A. Mair 1. The only starter. 33 1-3 Yards girls’ backstroke championship.—V. Collie* 1, M. Edwards 2, M. Howie 3. A close race. Murihiku Club results:— 440 Men’s championship.—K. Shaw 1, W. Johnson 2. Time, smin 46 4-ssec. Shaw beat the Southland title holder very well after a good race. 100 Yards women’s breaststroke championship.—C. Lynch 1. 100 Yards women’s backstroke.— Joyce Macdonald 1. i Hanan Beats Hatchwell In Sprint At Auckland Non-observance of the international starting law had competitors and officers for the two principal races at the North Shore Amateur Swimming and Life-Saving Club’s carnival in the Auckland Tepid Baths at sixes and sevens, says The Auckland Star. In the 100 yards scratch race Peter Hanan outpaced Bob Hatchwell, of Wellington, who had taken the national 100 yards title from him at Invercargill five weeks ago. Hanan’s time was 54 2-ssec. This missed the New Zealand record, held by the third man, Noel

Crump, by two-fifths of a second. . For the 100 yards contest Hanan and Crump were the only rivals to Hatchwell. The start was ragged, and the race should not have been permitted to continue. Before the starter. Mr J. R. Miller, fired the pistol, Hanan, waiting for the signal, overbalanced and attempted to regain his feet. Crump also was on the point of diving. At this moment the starter fired his pistol, and the Aucklanders got away sooner than did Hatchwell, who was still in a flatfooted position. 'lt was an illegal start, and the contestants should have been recalled. Both Hanan and Crump had broken the international law, which states that competitors must remain motionless until the actual starting command or signal. The incident was similar to that which took place at the start of the 100 yards Auckland championship on January 19, when Alan Pascoe got away too quickly. The contest aroused great excitement but there was little in it. Hanan led Hatchwell all the way, swimming well and increasing an advantage of a foot at 66 2-3yds to about a yard at

the finish. Hatchwell beat Crump by a foot. Although the Wellingtonian lost ground at the start, he would hardly have beaten Hanan even if they had left the board on equal terms. There was a mix-up in the 50 yards scratch race, caused by Noel Crump, who competed after being disqualified at the starting board. At the first attempt to start Pascoe and Bagnall broke. The starter thereupon gave the customary warning that anyone making a false start would be disqualified. In spite of this, Crump and Pascoe beat the gun. They suffered the penalty, but, whereas Pascoe left the board, Crump lined up with the field again. His action was unjustified, nor should it have been countenanced, but it was announced he would compete unofficially! At the third attempt the swimmers got away well, and right to the finish from the first turn, where Crump led slightly, he and Hanan were practically level. Crump was wrongly announced as the winner, he not strictly being in the race, but afterwards the judges’ verdict in Hanan’s favour was announced, with Frankham in second place. The finish between Crump and Hanan was so close that there was argument as to who reached the rope first. Hanan’s time was 24 3-ssec. Hatchwell appeared to be third.

The Christchurch backstroke swimmer Clive Cliff made a successful attack on Peter Mathieson’s Dominion record for 100 yards, reducing it by threefifths of' a second to 65 3-ssec.