SWIMMING IN TARANAKI

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1929, Page 4

SWIMMING IN TARANAKI

AUSTRALIAN TOUR OPENS

REVIEW OF CARNIVAL PROSPECTS.

1 W. CAMERON COES TO SYDNEY.

(By

“Backstroke.”)

During the fortnight preceding Christmas several clubs are holding their opening carnivals. The results should give a good indication of the capacities of the various contenders for the championship titles. Many clubs have started late and the weather has not been of the best, but there certainly does not seem- to be sufficient enthusiasm among the club leaders. Number's of the younger swimmers have been training consistently. At Hawera Spence Anderson is evidently keeping the 100 yards championship in view. He should stand a very good chance of annexing the title if he puts a little vim into his preparation. About his most serious opponent, H. St George, Waitara, very little seems to be forthcoming. There will not be a dead heat in the championship again if he does not apply himself to a course of training.

Fitzroy’s leading swimmers are mostly of the distance type. Both K. Staunton and C. Plumtree are methodical visitors to the New Plymouth baths, but J. Thomas, who should be about to strike form, very rarely puts in an appearance. Of course, being at the baths is not an infallible criterion as to whether a swimmer is training or not, but there is certainly no other place in New Plymouth where it is possible to give the same attention to stroke. Thomas will find it nd easy matter to dispute the 220 yards championship with G. Harrison. Hetherington and Neville should also give the surf-bathing a. rest if they intend to compete in this season’s carnivals.

The New Plymouth Club swimmers, H. Watkins and A. Bell, are often at the baths and should do well in the forthcoming carnivals. Johnson, an ex-Pon-sonby (Auckland) swimmer, has been showing very good form since his arrival a week or two ago. As his diving is excellent he has agreed to give an exhibition at the first New Plymouth carnival. He took third place in the Auckland diving championship. Johnson also has a bright record as a swimmer. Jn 1925 he won the intermediate boys’ championship, beating G. Bridson, the present distance titleholder of New Zealand.

LEADING LADY SWIMMERS. The secretary of the New Plymouth Ladies’ Life-saving Club, Miss B. Gayton, has useful stroke, but one which could be improved. The arm movements seem to lack strength and length owing to the fact that..the hands do not enter the water in front of the eyes, but to the side. This makes it impossible to exert the maximum of energy. There is no lady- swimmer in New Plymouth with a more powerful crawl kick than Miss Gayton. Perhaps she breaks water a little too much; still, with due attention to details she should do well in

all competitions this year. V Miss Donnel is another who gives promise of speed if minor corrections to her stroke are made. Her style of swimming might be called unpolished, but it certainly has possibilities. A junior, Miss Pepperell, is training and is sure to do well at the earlier carnivals at least. The Fitzroy is especially fortunate in its lady members. One of the most outstanding is Miss Jean Charters, who trains consistently at the baths. Her , ' diving is excellent and is in a class above the average. There is still room for ’slight improvement in her style of swiin- ' ming. Her feet break the water a little . too much. If she adopted the hydro- . ' planing method of crawl swimming with the head and shoulders above water and just the heels breaking the surface her main faults would disappear. It has been authoritatively stated that

I. W. Cameron, Wellington, the New Zealand sprint champion who lowered ' the 100 yards record time last year, is leaving for Sydney. This will make a great difference to the prospects at the national championships. Previously there seemed no one who was capable of extending Cameron. His struggle with Arne Borg over 100 yards last year will long bo remembered. There has never been anyone in New Zealand who could pace Borg for two-thirds the distance as Cameron did. Auckland is likely now to produce the 1930 champions. There will be great racing between J. P. Farrell (Varsity), J. Enwright (Waitemata) and A. Koper (Ponsonby) for the sprints, while G. Bridson, Lindsay and Baird will probably account for the distances. There was some notable swimming at the tepid baths, Auckland, on Wednesday evening, when the Australian champions, Noel Ryan and Owen Griffiths, made tlreir New Zealand debut. Opposed by Auckland’s leading swimmers, the were seen in some stirring contests, but although the times were fast no New Zealand record went by the board. The New Zealand distance titleholder, G. Bridson, easily eliminated Ryan in the 440yds, which was swum in smin 21sec. Griffiths was more fortunate in the 100yds scratch race, which he won from j. P. Farrell in 58 3-ssec. It seems that Cameron, Wellington, is the only New Zealand sprinter who could defeat him and a meeting of those two is not probable. The Australians were the best combination ever seen in action in Auckland; both had imposing records to their credit. Ryan is the outstanding performer of the two. To celebrate his 18th birthday, ho has the distinction of bein'' rated the greatest swimmer Australia has produced, excepting the fam€_.s “Boy” Charlton. Ryan is the cynosure of all eyes in Australia’s swimming world. Ho is expected to blossom into a world’s champion and to recover Australia's lost swimming prestige. It would almost be a superhuman feat for the youthful champion to erase the world’s records of Arne Borg. On paper there was scarcely any difference between the relative merits of Ryan and Bridson. The Australian’s best time for the distance was smin 17sec, recorded when he won the New South Wales championship last season, while record-breaking time of last week was smin 16 3-ssec. Ryan was at a disadvantage in that he was being called upon to swim a most strenuous contest the day after his arrival. His time was recorded in a 110yds bath. On January 2 Ryan and Griffiths will .appear at-Hawcra in a carnival arranged