INTERESTING SWIMMING

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1930, Page 4

INTERESTING SWIMMING

CARNIVALS IN TARANAKI DOMINION NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. AUSTRALIAN LADIES’ VISIT.

(By

"Backstroke.”)

The past week proved intensely inereeting to followers of swimming in Taranaki. The national championships which continued from Friday last until Wednesday provided some sterling contests, and although the Opunake Surf Club’s life-saving team was the only ■ Taranaki representative at Greymouth, there was no lack of attention paid to the performances of champions such as Q. Bridson and Miss K. Miller. In Tara- ■ naki there were Hawera, Waitara, and ‘ Fitzroy Surf Club carnivals, all of which • drew entries representative of the province. Further afield the Australian and ■ New South Wales championships were interesting owing to the successes of Misses Edna Davey and Jean Cocks, who will visit New Zealand next month. At the Inglewood carnival, the large number of visiting swimmers acquitted themselves well. G. H. Johnson (New Plymouth), winner of the 50 yards, showed greatly improved form in his actual time for the distance —28 4-sscc. At the Fitzroy Surf Club carnival he swam well in the scratch 100 yards, which was. won by Ron. Shaw in the Taranaki record time of 04 4-ssec. Shaw ifi perhaps the fittest eprint swimmer seen in action last week, and by defeating H. St. George, the Waitara swimmer, he should not be far from the Taranaki 100- yards championship title. A. Robson (Stratford), who carried off the mile championship after, one of the most gruelling races seen in Taranaki, is also a sprinter of merit, as is shown by his registering 29 l-oeec. for 50 yards at Inglewood. Robson’s sprint at the end of the mile, which he comfileted in 30inin. 7 l-ssee., indicated careul training and a sound knowledge of racing. A. Ryan (Hawera) also swam well, and ‘it is difficult to maintain such an even speed when pace-making all the way as he did. His stroke seemed a trifle short for distance work, and did not have the length and easy precision of Robson’s. Neither of the other two who finished, C. H. Plumtree and K. Sauhton, are stylists, but both have useful strokes which are more suited for greater distances than one mile. Staunton’s staying power is almost proverbial in Taranaki. LIFE-SAVING AT GREYMOUTH. The Opunake. life-saving team at Greymouth, though defeated, were not disgraced. Undoubtedly they had a harder time than the other teams in the Nelson Shield. There was a heavy sea with a strong inshore set at the south beach when the Opunake men entered the water. Later the buoy drifted from its position 200 yards from the shore, and although the judges made allowance for this, Opunake felt the effectfl of the longer swim. As anticipated, the Auckland champion, G. Bridson, has carried all before him in the free style events at the national championships. He won frve titles and established one New Zealand record. Bridson commenced his sequence of successes at the opening session on Friday when he annexed the 100 yards and one mile championships from A. Stokes, of Canterbury. Hie time for the sprint, 58 l-ssec., although 1 3-ssec. slower than I. W. Cameron’s New Zealand freshwater record, was a splendid effort for a swimmer whose forte is undoubtedly over distances. Incidentally, Cameron is the only sprinter who has recorded faeter time than Bridson for the distance in the Dominion. Bridson’s time, ; 24min. 31 3-ssee., was comparatively . slow, being 16 4-ssee. outside D. P. Lindsay’s record, but had he been pressed he would have, no doubt, reduced it i considerably. In the half-mile event on Saturday Bridson notched his first fresh water record by lowering Lindsay’s time of 11 min, 44 3-sscc. to llmin. 39 3-ssec. His time of 2min. 29 3-seec. in winning the 220 yards championship on Monday : s < 3-ssec. slower than Lindsay’s record. On Wednesday, the last day of the. meeting, Bridson successfully defended the 440 yards championship in sinin. 36 ( 2-sscc., somewhat slower than D. P. Lindsay’s record of smin. 28 l-ssec. The runner-up to Bridson in every championship, Stokes, has not swum as well as expected. However, even at his best, he is not in the class of the Aucklander. Just as Bridson is in a class by himself among the men, go is Miss Kathleen Miller (Wellington) among the ladies. She has won the 100 yards, 220 yards, and 440 yards free style championships, but her times have not' been outstanding. < SUCCESS OF BRIDSON. The only other Aucklander besides Bridson who has created a new Dominion record is Mice Edna Rainey. In winning the 50 yards junior girls’ championship she covered the distance in 33 3-ssec., which clipped 3-ssec. off the existing figures. This is a remarkable performance for a 12-year-old girl, and should stand for a considerable time. She aleo won the 100 yards event in 80 l-ssec., which is two seconds slower ' than the record.

As yet the Australian Swimming Union has not extended an invitation to G. Brideon to visit Sydney this summer. The statement made by Griffiths when in Auckland that Bridson would leave for Sydney on January 31 has not been confirmed. In fact, Griffiths himself made the suggestion to the New South Wales Swimming Association that the Aucklander should leave on that date, in order to appear at a special carnival to be held in Sydney early next month. The matter is to be discussed at a meeting of the New South Wales Association, and it is felt in Sydney swimming circles that the suggestion will be adopted, as it is considered that such a carnival would pay handso. .sly, thus making up for the absence of Ryan and Griffiths from the State championships. Further successes in the New South Wales and Australian championships have been recorded by Misses Edna Davey and Jean Cocks. Following her w in in the 440 yards championship Miss Davey retained her half-mile State title in 12min. 49 3 sscc„ which ie I'Jsec. outside her own Australian record. The slowness of this time can probably be attributed to the fact that she had the easiest of victories. defeating Miss J. Joubert by 75 yard*. However her time of 7rnin. 7see. for 500 yards eelipred Miss F. Duracks Australian record by 1 1 "554?0« Fn the 100 yard 6 State intermediate

championship Miss Cocks retained her title in 65 9-lOocc., this time being 1 3-10 sec. outside her Australian record. On Saturday she won the 220 yards Australian championship in 2min. 51 3-sflec., which is Gscc, slower than her record. The International Water Polo Board has made some changes in the rules of the game. The most important changefl are the transfer of three clauses from under the heading of wilful fouls to ordinary fouls. ‘bus reducing the penalty for these olfenccs to a free throw instead of the player being ordered out of the water., The three changes are: To flplash water in the face of an opponent; to start before the referee blows his whistle; to strike at the ball with clenched fist.