SWIMMING

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1926, Page 4

SWIMMING

TARANAKI ACTIVITIES DEMONSTRATION AT WAITARA. (By “Trudgeon.”) The Fitzroy Surf Club’s life-saving team journeyed to 'Waitara last Sunday week to give a demonstration on the beach. The attendance was not very encouraging but this was only to be expected seeing that the weather only cleared at the last minute after being overcast with a drizzling rain for most of the day. A good display of lifesaving was given and the whole team worked in perfect harmony. N. S. Batchelor has donated a trophy for swimming to the swimmer who gains the biggest number of points in a serir.s of races. The first of the series wil be held on Thursday. Mr. W. W. Francis who has accepted the position of swimming instructor at the New Plymouth baths, has travelled extensively as a vaudeville artist starring throughuot the Fuller Brennan circuit of New Zealand, Australia, Honolulu, South Africa, America and Great Britain. Among many accomplishments the swimming of the Bristol Channel from Penarth to Newport still stands to his credit, also the swim from Newbridge to Newport, and neither of these records have been beaten since the skipper established them. Wellington have been very fortunate, in obtaining the services of one Watson, late of Scotland to whom is credited the performance of swimming 100 yards in 58 seconds. His advice deals mainly with stroke correction, and he te'lls us that Scottish swimmers spend hours in correcting their strokes. They are always on the lookout for mistakes and do their utmost to eliminate the roll in their swimming, especially in sprints. Relaxation, he considers, is one of the main points in the crawl stroke. At the Boogce Aquaruim recently,-the Sydney Ladies’ Club produced an 11 year old star, Betty Law, whose performance shows her to be the speediest girl of her years in the world. Conceded 5 seconds in 151) yards by the Australasian champion,Ena Stockley, Betty completed the distance in 2min ssec. Ena Stockley failed to catch the child, and covered the 150 yards in 2min 2sec. Betty Law’s time is ssec better than the state standard championship time, ffi'tty is a beautifully proportioned child, has a big heart and swims an almost perfect six beat independent crawl stroke. She will loom in Australian championship events when maturer years bring increased stamina. Claire Bouldwell’s best time for 150 yards is Imin 52 2-ssec. in' a heat of last year’s State championships. Fanny Durock’s Australian record is Imin 51 l-ssee.

Perhaps the following extract from the Bouton Press will serve to show Taranaki swimmers just what training really means. Lillian Cannon gives a summary of her training under the supervision of William Burgess. "Gris Nez, France, July I.—Now I know what training to swim the Channel really means. The first day Bill Burgess showed me the Channel. The second day he put me in the water for 10 minutes. The third day be began serious training, and I didn’t get out of that cold clammy sea until 30 minutes had passed. Now my stint is never less than an hour a day. Until one gets used to the cold it feels as if their was an ice pack over the whole body. There is a numbness which is paralysing. However, once one becomes used to the cold the chill is exhilarating. After nearly a month of it I feel cocky every time I get on my swimming suit, Burgess now thinks I am ready for real training. I am to do an hour a day for two days. Then I shall be in the water for two hours the next two days. On the fifth day I shall stay in three hours, and on the sixth I shall, have a rest. On the seventh day I am to swim five miles. Tills programme is to be repeated for two or three weeks while Burgess decides whether I am of Channel calibre or not. The final test will be a swim from Boulogne to Calais which is about 30 miles, and this will be my graduation effort. Burgess won’t say I can do a thing until he has tried me thoroughly. “Don’t be afraid,” he is always telling me, “but on the other hand, never underestimate the job.” I am not und-w estimating it. How’s that for a training schedule?