Southland Swimming Championships Next Week

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 16

Southland Swimming Championships Next Week

By

LIFEBELT

There will be no club hours on Tuesday or Thursday because of carnivals. During the coming week the centre is conducting the junior and intermediate swimming. championships, and they will be held on two separate nights, Tuesday and Thursday. A comprehensive programme of handicap races will be swum in conjunction with the championship events, and both nights should produce some very interesting contests. Intending competitors in the Southland junior diving championships are warned that they must nominate the voluntary dives which they intend to perform, and that no other dives will be allowed on the night. Special forms are available for these entries. Collegiate staged a good carnival last week when it was assisted by a team of swimmers from Dunedin. Four Southland championships were decided and some fast racing was seen. Three Southland records were unofficially broken, which is a very satisfactory state of affairs for a November carnival.

In the 100 yards handicap, A. C. Millar improved on his last swim of 59 2-ssec to record 60s?c in the»heat and 59 l-ssec in the final, in which he gained a much deserved second. K. Shaw beat his previous best 100 yards breaststroke time to return 76 3-ssec, a brilliant swim, and the intermediate breaststroker, B. Morgan, kicked his way over the same distance in 78sec, which is 4-5 of a second better than Shaw’s intermediate time and one second faster than that which won Robertson, now senior, the New Zealand championship last year. DYSON NOT IN FORM W. Dyson, New Zealand record holder, is not yet in his best form—none of the Otago contingent was—but notwithstanding, he was able to cover the 100 yards in 77sec dead, after his journey from Dunedin that afternoon. He is the prettiest breaststroker yet seen in Invercargill and is a perfect stylist. Miss Purdie has been seen to better advantage, but her finishing effort to win the backstroke race was in her best style. She always appears to have a sprint left for the finish, but one should always look sideways at a swimmer who does this, as it often means that there is loafing taking place somewhere else in the swim to keep this freshness. Miss Dunn was obviously not very fit, but she displayed her old style, and once properly in training, she should go better than ever. She did not seem to gain her usual momentum from the kick, but although in a hopeless position at the second lap, she maintained her effort right up to the finishing line in a very game manner indeed. I. Hall, Otago intermediate backstroker, was good, but not particularly fast for an intermediate. Unfortunately, he had to swim the 100 yards soon after his 66 2-3 yards race, and was unable to do himself justice as a result. D. Freeman was in his usual form, but his diving lacks polish andßranks was definitely his superior. APATHETIC PUBLIC It was most disappointing that when these visiting swimmers were announced the audience greeted them so apathetically. At least a good round of applause would be only good manners, and if the audience is not enthusiastic at least the local swimmers could set an example. Even in the championship events the contestants, when announced to the public, were very quietly received. Surely it is up to the supporters of the respective clubs to encourage their own champions. Only one of the championship races produced a thrilling contest and that was the 50 yards junior girls breaststroke, when Miss B. Fitzgerald upset all calculations, defeating Miss D. Clark by inches in a most exciting race. Gaining a slight advantage at the start, Miss Fitzgerald held the lead to the turn, where she lost a little ground, and in the race back to the rope just

managed to keep enough advantage to touch first and win the first Southland championship of the season. It was a good effort on her part and to prove she was in form, later in the evening she swam a close second in the breaststroke, reducing her handicap time by nearly eight seconds. Although not particularly fast the time recorded, 45 seconds,, was quite a satisfactory performance and both girls should be much improved by January. Miss Beryl Westerby made no race of the girls’ 50 yards freestyle, winning by eight feet from her sister Kathleen, who was hard put to it to stave off a most determined challenge by the improving Miss Lome Taylor. The time of 30 2-ssec was very good and is an improvement on Miss Westerby’s performances last year. Unfortunately J. Steel developed cramp when competing in the junior boys’ 100yds and withdrew at two laps thus taking a great deal of interest from the race. H. Parkinson showed real speed in his winning effort and was too powerful for Doake who swam on into second place. Doake was unlucky to have the others on his blind side for the first and last length, and he let them get away ton far in the first lap to give him much chance of a wtn. All the boys showed vast improvement over last season’s form, and Doake should prove a good junior next year with more racing experience. Southland will be losing Parkinson early in the new year and his loss will be felt here, as we have already suffered badly from transfers. CHAMPION WINS Miss Sylvia Brown, last season’s junior breastroke champion, swam in her first intermediate title contest and won from her only opponent Miss M. Anderson, in hollow fashion. Her time of 67 3-ssecs for the 75yds was very satisfactory, especially for her first race over a strange distance. The new entry forms now in use by the Southland Centre are a great improvement on the old ones. Now, instead of having one swimmer’s entry on each sheet, with the consequent extending necessary by the handicapper, the new issue allows for 15 names. This means that the work entailed before will be practically cut out, and will be much appreciated by that hard worked officer, the handicapper. At Dunedin recently where the official handicapping system is in vogue, whereby a swimmer declares his time for the race and a sliding scale is used which allows for improvement, 25 swimmers were disqualified for exceeding their set limits. In one heat of six competitors no fewer than five were disqualified and the last home gained first place. Dunedin Centre officials do not expect swimmers to make so many false statements about their times in future, now that it is obvious that the disqualification clause is going to be adhered to, GIVING THE PUBLIC A VIEW At future Invercargill swimming carnivals the organizers would be well advised to make an alteration in the heat lanes to avoid a most annoying feature which is always present. Because of the high sides of the pool, spectators on the stadium seating very seldom obtain a clear view of the competitor in No. 1 lane without standing and leaning forward, which in its turn obstructs everybody else behind those on their feet. A satisfactory solution to this problem could be found in placing a rope lane about two feet out from the wall. This would only mean narrowing the other lanes a little less than six inches each, but the advant-

age to the spectators would be well worth the sacrifice. At a recent meeting onlookers received a shock when the winner was announced, as he was in No. 1 and close to the wall, while the second man was in the centre of the pool. The winner was quite out of sight and his announcement came as a shock to some enthusiastic supporters of the second man.

Last Tuesday when the pupils from the Middle School were examined for their life-saving certificates Mr A. J. Kingsland, the examiner, addressed them at the completion of the test, when he congratulated both the children and their instructor, Mr Campbell. Mr Kingsland urged the children to maintain their practice in live-saving and to bear in mind that this was only the beginning of the live-saving awards. He reminded them that they were not considered life-savers in the true sense of the word, until they had gained the bronze medallion, but as they could not take this award until they had reached the age of 14 years, the majority present had three more years to wait. In the meantime there were two other examinations they could prepare for, and he hoped ’to see them all keeping up their practice and taking these other awards in the near future. COMING EVENTS Dec. 5 and 7 — Southland Junior and Intermediate Championships. Jan. 17, 18 and 20—New Zealand Junior and Intermediate Championships at Dunedin. Feb. 10, 12 and 14— New Zealand Senior Championships at Wellington.