SWIMMERS AND SWIMMING

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1931, Page 12

SWIMMERS AND SWIMMING

FIRST OF THE CARNIVALS H. ST. GEORGE’S GOOD RECORD. HERE, THERE AND ELSEWHERE. (By “Backstroke.”) Despite the fact that it was the first inter-club competitive swimming of the new season some remarkably good peiformances were given at. the Fitzroy Surf Club’s carnival last week. As was expected, the 220 yards handicap proved the most interesting race of the evening, and in it the two Haweia swimmers I. Jobson (scratch) and A. Ryan (2 seconds) covered the distance in very good times. Jobson s time from scratch was 2 minutes 56 4-5 seconds. The men’s 50 yards, a. race of eight heats, was won easily by a young member of the New Plymouth Club, “Jock” Campbell, in very good time. He has a pleasing stroke that serves him well and he should be among the front rankers as the season progresses. The Stratford swimmer B. Lonsdale also did well, coming second in the men’s 50 yards and 100 yards. HOLDER OF 3 TARANAKI TITLES. That competitive swimming is a great strain on the heart is borne out by the .fact that. two prominent Taranaki swimmers had to relinquish the sport temporarily during last season. R Shaw is still non-active, but H. M. St. George, who collapsed with a strained heart at a territorial camp at Waverley last May, made a good recovery and surprised, the large crows, at the Fitzroy Club carnival on Saturday night ’ey winning the 100 yards event from scratch in 65sec, only 2-ssec slower than his own Taranaki record. St. Georgb commenced competitive swimming in the 1925-26 season while at the New Plymouth Boys’ High School. There lie had secured the Fox cup for the under ’ 14 championship, winning all three events. He won a 100 yards event at Inglewood and three shorter races. In the 1926-27 season he concentrated on longer races and won a 220 yards and two 100 yards events, also ■ one. 50 yards at inter-club carnivals.

He ‘followed the same course the next season and won four 100 yards events, one of them at a Fitzroy Club carnival the sama night that he won a 220 yards race. By this time he had. readied provincial championship standard and at the annual title meeting dead-heated' for first place with G. S. Anderson in the 100 yards championship '(in record time), and was second in the 50 yards. ■ ’ .“Saint” did not produce his best form, however, till the 1929-30 season, when he was the winner of no less than 11 events. At the New Plymouth dub’s carnival he carried off the 160 yards and 220 yards, at Waitara the 100 .yards and at Stratford the 440 .yards (in which race he conceded Robson, the 1 mile champion, 4sec.), all: from the scratch mark and against Taranaki’s best. Later in the season he won two events at the Waitara regatta and was second in a 220 yards event at a Fitzroy carnival. The Waitara boy, however, was apparently never really extended and it was not until the championship meeting at Hawera last year that he proved himself a high class and versatile swimmer. G. S. Anderson, who had dead-heat-ed with St. George in the 100. yards the previous year, was leading in the 50 yards, .when St. George produced, a brilliant sprint and got up\ to deadheat in Taranaki record time. The 100 yards was a tussle between St. George and R. Shaw and again St. George’s finishing effort wait successful. He won in 64 3-ssec, 2se_c better than .his and Anderson’s previous record. ’ -The crowning performance of the evening came . in the 220 yards championship. Shaw was .leading till the final length, but again "St. George’s sprint was the deciding factor and he won in 2 min 54 3-ssec, l-ssec outside the 'record. Thus he secured three titles and. two provincial records in a single night. ..“Saint” attended the territorial camp at, Waverley in May, when the championship of the Taranaki Regiment was decided over a straight ’ 300 yards coiurse in the lake. He Avon narrowly from a field which included A. Robson, who at present shares with him all the senior Taranaki titles. The effect of a. strenuous year’s swimming coupled with-equally strenuous training under a sweltering sun took its toll and before camp ended St. George collapsed suddenly. . Examination -revealed heartstrain and he was advised to retire from the sport temporarily if not permanently. The “close” . season for swimming’has evidently enabled him to effect a good recovery and the titleholder proved himself as good as ever ■by reaching the tape first on Saturday night in three 100 yards races. No ill-effects were noticed and so long at St. George keeps to the advice of his doctor —to restrict his swimming to one or two races a night, and that only after thorough training—hie will probably fulfil.the prediction made in this column last year —that he will reduce the provincial 100 yards time to near 60sec. In addition he should hold his other two titles in safe keeping. POPULARITY OF CARNIVALS. Swimming carnivals in Taranaki, given fine .warm wealth, always attract good attendances in spite of the some-, what poor accommodation, which is all that most clubs can offer. It is not hard to please a carnival crowd, which will take all splashes as part of the fun, but the better • the organisation the larger the crowd. Interest can only be maintained if the competitors are known to the spectators and printed programmes are always given out at carnivals. In a long programme, however, scratchings will be frequent and two or more heats may have to be combined. The average spectator can no longer discover who is swimming and the race is bound to lose some interest. At the carnival at New Plymouth on Saturday night the 100 yards and 50 yards races suffered in this manner and it has been suggested that an announcer should be appointed among the officials to “introduce” competitors to spectators. Until, however, comparative silence can be observed by carnival crowds preliminary to a race—and it is waiting competitors that offend chiefly in this respect—the disorganisation will have to remain. MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS. A marked decline in the membership of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association is revealed by the statistics for last season. In the 192829 season there was a. total of 7727 members, compared with 6767 for last season, there being a decrease of 960. The number of clubs affiliated to the

association also showed a decrease of seven, the total for 1928-29 being 102, as against 95 for last season. The positions of the various centres in regard to membership strength are as follows-, the figures *in parentheses being those for the 1928-29 season:—Hawke’s Bay, 1598 (1681); Wellington, 1037 (1198); Auckland, 922 (1097); Canterbury, 782 (1180); Taranaki, 438 (820); Otago, 363 (156); Manawatu, 347 (232); Wanganui, 305 (216); West Coast, 283 (433); South Canterbury, 197 (156); Southland, 157 (—); Ashburton,- 11.3 (221); Nelson, — (133). N.Z, SWIMMING RECORDS. Ten new New Zealand swimming records were established during 1930, and though none of them approached international standard, the tally is a good one for one season. G. Bridson and Miss G. Pidgeon, Auckland, accounted for six new records between them. Bridson reduced the 220yds free-style record of 2.29, held jointly by D. P. Lindsay and himself, to 2.26 1-5; he lowered the 500 metres record to 6.59 4-5, and set a new mark for the 150yds of 1.33 1-5, the previous best time being L. L. Kronfeld’s 1.39 3-5. Miss Pidgeon set records for three distances for° which no figures had previously been kept. She did the 100 metres in 1.42, 300 metres in 5.40 4-5,' and 400 metres in 7.56 1-5. L. J. Moorhouse, Canterbury 'and New Zealand backstroke champion, reduced his own 150 yds record to 1.49 1-5, and his 200 metres time to 2.51 1-5.. The other two records were established by Otago <5 wimhiers. Miss M. Alathieson, New Zealand intermediate champion, won the ,75yds breaststroke in 1.4 2-5, and R. Geddes, the brilliant junior, did the same distance, same style, in 0.59 3-5. OLYMPIC SWIMMING MATTERSThe Olympic stadium for the swimming, diving and water polo events of the Games of the tenth Olympiad, which are to be celebrated at Los Angeles from July 30 to August 14, 1932, will be built in Olympic Park, according to plans of the organising committee. In Olympic Park already are the fencing pavilion and the fine arts building. The construction there of, the swimming stadium wilt centralise, as much •as possible, all Olympic activities in one area. Final plans for the stadium have been completed and the organising committee will build it in strict conformity with Olympic requirements as to size and equipment. . Ample accommodation will be provided for spectators, officials and representatives of the world Press. Adequate • dressing-rooms, showers and lounges for athletes, will be incorporated into the plans. The location for the stadium, which has been selected tentatively by the organising committee, is directly •in front of a grandstand near the main stadium. This grandstand is of concrete and steel construction, and suitable dressing rooms, showers and lounges can be. built in it. Earth excavated from the stadium can be utilised as a foundation for additional seats. Numerous swimming pools are ready in clubs, gymnasiums and schools for training. NELSON SHIELD CONTEST. Considerable discussion followed the reading of a letter from the Wellington Swimming Centre at a meeting of the Wanganui Swimming Centre, soliciting Wanganui’s assistance in an endeavour to get the Wanganui Head Centre of the Royal Life-Saving Society to alter its decision to hold the Nelson Shield contest on Saturday, March 7, to the following day. The Wellington Centre contended that it meant too big a strain on a swimmer to compete in the Nelson Shield in the afternoon and to race in . the evening. A deputation was appointed to wait on the Life-Saving Centre and place before it the views of the Wellington Swimming centre. OFF THE DEEP-END. V. Alien, a well-known Wellington veteran swimmer, added another victory to Iris long list of successes by winning a 50yds club race recently. It is stated that Allen has now competed in nearly 1008 events. Celia. Wolstenholme, Manchester, England, recently broke the women’s world’s record for 500 metres of breaststroke swimming by over 14sec. Her time was Smin 35,1-Ssec.- The previous record, held by a German girl, H. Wunder, -was Bmin 49 4-ssec. J; P. Farrell, who is touring abroad, created a surprise at the University Swimming Club’s point race meeting at Crawley .(Western Australia), in covering the 50 yards in the excellent time of 25 l-ssec. Farrell was twice 100 yards champion of New Zealand Universities and of Auckland. The ex-New Zealand women’s diving champion, Miss L. Hood, Hawke’s Bay, who impressed, greatly by her neat and finished, diving at Dunedin in 1928, is still in the sport, and at the Heretunga Club’s carnival in Hawke's Bay recently she annexed the senior diving event, ; which would suggest that she is' again likely to be a competitor at Wanganui in March.

The Brisbane City ' Council has thrown a bombshell into Queensland swimming circles by its unexpected decision to use fresh water instead of salt in the several baths-under its control. Coming on the eve of the Australian national championships, the announcement of this action -was of vital importance to all the States, and was bound to meet with disapproval from the southern associations. ■ The Queensland body, however, did not seem to object to the action.Swimming at Sydney on New Year’s Eve, Miss Bonnie Mealing was reported by cable as having beaten her own and the world record for 150 yards backstroke, Imin 54 3-ssec, by 2-ssec. On the following Saturday night, however, Miss Mealing clipped a further l-ssec, covering the distance in Imin 53 4-ssec. It afterwards transpired that, although the officials for the carnival had been appointed by the N.S.W. A.S.A. permission had not been obtained to attempt a record breaking swim, and consequently the record may not be accepted. Miss Joyce Cooper, English swimming champion, gave an impressive display of speed and versatility during a brief competitive visit to the United States recently. Within two weeks she engaged in four free-style and two backstroke matches against a pair of leading Aiperican swimmers. Sho scored three victories, and her American rivals had to clip world's record time to defeat her in two of the other contests. In a letter to a friend, Mr. E. H. Olds, former Dunedin swimming coach, who is now coaching at San Francisco, strikes an optimistic note concerning the swimming possibilities of his son, Leslie Olds, who has met with many sucesses since he left his junior recordbreaking career in New Zealand behind him. Mr. Olds says that “Buster” is named by experts as one of the best of the younger swimmers working for Olympic honours. At the national championships Olds was nosed out of a place in the 80-0-metre. event, but he was only six inches behind the well-

known Raymond Ruddy, and beat Sheilds, of Salt Lake, and many other good men, to swim into fourth place. With the exception of Austin Clapp, it is claimed by the ex-Dunedin coach that Leslie can beat all local men on the Pacific Coast. Commenting on the sensational burst of speed that won fourteen-year-old Beryl George, Surrey Park,, the lip yards backstroke championship of Victoria recently from the title-holder (Edna Bostock), Mr. H. A. Bennett, president of the Victorian Swimming Association, said, that she was the greatest find Victorian swimming had had for many a long day, says the Sporting Globe. “Beryl shows rare promise, and has a good style, so we can look forward to many further successes and greater development from her,” Mr. Bennett said. Her win created great excitement and enthusiasm at the city baths, where the first events of the Victorian women’s championships were held. She sped over the 100 yards backstroke in Imin 21 2-ssec, and knocked off exactly Osec from the previous record. Edna Bostock came second, and she also showed great form. Beryl George has been selected to represent Victoria at the championships to be held in Sydney and Brisbane.