SWIMMING AT GORE

Southland Times, Issue 25642, 9 April 1945, Page 2

SWIMMING AT GORE

'CHAMPIONS COMPETE IN CARNIVAL Steady rain, which began to fall before midday on Saturday, almost ruined the final carnival for the season organized by the Gore Swimming Sub-Association. The rain showed no signs of clearing early in the afternoon, but as swimmers and officials had arrived from Dunedin, Balclutha and Invercargill it was decided to proceed with the events. When about half the events had been completed, however, officials and the handful of spectators were thoroughly drenched, the only course left open being to cancel the remainder of the programme. The carnival promised to be the most attractive since the erection of the pool.. Several Otago and Southland champions arrived to take part, and an attractive programme had been prepared. Under the conditions, however, there were no spectacular performances, although interesting finishes were seen in the finals of the 100 yards intermediate freestyle and the 100 yards intermediate breaststroke. The handicapper (Mr J. P. Bishop) was set a difficult task in matching performers with provincial reputations against local swimmers, but the finishes were generally a tribute to his judgment. In the 100 yards intermediate freestyle, the Otago champion, L. Wilson, made a gallant effort to overtake and beat Miss J. de la Perrelle in the last half-length of the final. With a handicap of four seconds, Miss Perrelle made a game attempt to hold off the winner, who succeeded in making up his handicap of 18 seconds and winning by a yard. Another interesting finish was seen in the final of the 100 yards intermediate breaststroke, in which the New Zealand intermediate champion, R. J. Isaacs, overtook his handicap of 14 seconds to beat Miss Lorraine Kearns (Dunedin), who was handicapped on eight seconds.

Two competitors were disqualified for exceeding by more than 5 per cent, the times of their performances declared to the handicapper. They were Miss A. Mcßride (Balclutha), who won the first heat of the 50 yards junior breaststroke in 60sec, against a declared time of 65 seconds, and M. Freeman (Balclutha), whose time for the third heat of the 100 yards intermediate freestyle was Imin 20sec.

A dance was held in the evening, when trophies won during the year were presented.

The following were the results:— 50yds Junior Breaststroke—First heat: Miss A. Mcßride (Balclutha) 1, G. W. Knight (Invercargill) 2, B. Tremaine (Dunedin) 3. Time, 60sec. Miss Mcßride was disqualified and the winner was Knight. Tremaine being placed second. Second heat: Miss L. Kearns (Dunedin) 1, Miss J. Cockroft (Invercargill I 2. Time, 50 2-ssec. Final: ’ Knight 1, Miss Kearns 2, Tremaine 3. Time, 37 4-ssec. 100yds Intermediate Freestyle—First heat: R. Strang (Gore) 1, Miss J. de la Perrelle (Gore) 2, W. Davidson (Invercargill) 3. Time, 76sec. Second heat: L. Wilson (Dunedin) 1, M. Carran (Invercargill) 2, L. R. Wilson (Dunedin) 3. Time, 64 l-ssec. Third heat: M. Freeman (Balclutha) 1, N. Wyber (Balclutha) 2. Time, Imin 20sec. Freeman was disqualified and the winner was Wyber. Final: L. Wilson 1, Miss Perrelle 2, Strang 3. Time, 65sec. 100yds Senior and Intermediate Backstroke —A. McPhee (Gore) 1, Miss E. Marslin (Dunedin) 2, M. Freeman (Balclutha) 3. Time, 1.32 l-ssec.

50yds Junior Backstroke—H. Harland (Invercargill) 1, G. W. Knight (Invercargill) 2, Miss M. Walker (Invercargill) 3. Time, 38 2-ssec.

100yds Intermediate Breaststroke— First heat: R. J. Isaacs (Dunedin) 1, G. Yule (Invercargill) 2, Miss R. Brown (Invercargill) 3. Time, 1.23 4-ssec. Second heat: Miss J. Watters (Gore) 1, N. Wyber (Balclutha) 2 H. Ward (Gore) 3. Third heat: R. Wilson (Gore) 1, Miss Lorraine Kearns (Dunedin) 2, B. Tremaine (Dunedin) 3. Final: Isaacs 1, Miss Kearns 2, Wilson 3. Time, Imin 26sec. Open Relay Race—Longford (R. Williams, R. Hall, R. Sutherland, W. McDonald) 1, Dunedin (L., Wilson, G. Sinclair, L. R. Wilson, T. Horn) 2, Gore (A. McPhee, R. Strang, A. McKay, R. Latty) 3. Time, Imin 27sec. Dives—Open: G. Sinclair (Dunedin). Novice: J. Warner (Dunedin).