SWIMMING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13814, 21 November 1908, Page 9

SWIMMING.

(By "Crawl. 111 )

i ' • > With the warm weather swimmers commence another season. A few enthusiasts have been swimming for the last two and even three .months^, but they have been mostly hardened" veterans. . '* ' The prospects for the season are exceedingly bright, , provided, of course, we are blessed with fine weather.

The local club must *be complimented on the last year's workynvhich showed a marked improvement on that of previous years. -I do not wish it thought that there is no room for improvement,- for what has been done for the encouragement of swimming? (By swimming I do not mean racing). Two graceful swimming competitions ! That was' all ; and the Club can hardly take credit for them considering they were promoted and 'the prizes for them donated all by one man. This year, however, we may .expert some further developments in this line for at the general meeting of the Club several suggestions were made' for the consideration of the incoming committe,e. Among, thesis w.erp scheme? fop the'pj-o-per teaching of swjmmfrig. This/ is, of course, as it should b'e'j fpr- what does the Club exist for but to * 'promote and teach the art of swimming" (vide No. 1 of the Club's rules) ? It is to be hoped that «£he committee will lose no time in adopting some of the suggestions made. It has been decided to liold over the formal opening of the season until Christmas when it is proposed to hold a big swimming carnival. Swimmers from .Stratford and Hawera have already expressed their intention of competing, Jt is to be hoped that the townspeople will assist the Club in its endeavour to help make Christmas week a success. > ] With this Christmas Carnival » and the West Coast championships, which it is our turn to hold this year, local swimmers will hsjve no reason to complain of want' of competition. Cecil Hea-ly, the 'Australian sjhprt distance champion, is just now in wonderful form, and he attributes the fact to, fir.# Qf »H, havjng resided at Manly for some frme, siud 'availed {jinjself of the opportunities right at his door (so to speak) for practice, and, next, to the straight course, which serves him better than turning. When Healy and Daniels met in England, Healy always gained on his rival in the actual swimntiifg, but the turn invariably saw Daniels J shoot off with a greater advantage than he had before reaching the basin's, end. On the 7th inst over the straight "hundred" Healy put up the remarkable time of 55sec which is -5-osec better than Daniels' world's record, accomplished with turns, which are aids to him.

Cecil Healy's feat will, not find a place jn the book. The pity- of it ! Proper notice of an attempt g,t record had nqt been given ffcjf Association

officials, and, further, Cecil was not fully costumed as required by the laws. "If I have been asked once, I have been asked a hundred times by ambitious youngsters whether it is best to sprint at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a race. The correct way of racing, in theory," says C. M. Daniels, "is not to sprint at all, but to find the fastest gait one can hold over the distance to go, and to hold it. Unluckily Aye are all such poor judges of pace that it is next to impossible for us to apportion our energy equally over the course so that it will jiist^ run out in the last few yards. Wov either kill ourselves by early sprinting or reserve energy for a sensationajt finish which would have been far better employed sooner. I consider good judgment in pacing the most valuable asset of the fast swimmer. It is undoubtedly the pace that kills, the pace above the individual's normal for the distance, and a punishing sprint, whether indulged in at the start or at any other part of a race, is harmful and detrimental to the best results. Distributed evenly over the entire course tljje extra strength is needed, for that sprint Mould have made the final time better." It is expected that F. Beaurepaire, the Australian swimmer, will be l'present in Auckland at the Ponsonby Swimming Club's carnival on Boxing Day, says the Auckland Star. ' At the East Sydney Club's opening on October 24, a' soyds race was swum. Cecil Healy being among the competitors. He was not a winner, although he covered tho cli Stance in 25 J-psec., which is close up to the world's record. . In Wellington this season B. C. Freyberg will not have things all his own way. He had an opponent of the first order in Reg. Healy, ex-champion of New South Wales, Mho is now resident in Wellington. Healy finds the M r ater very cold on this side, but hopes -to bf-.able f to. get fit and do something in the swimming world this year. — Dominion. J> The Wellington Swimming Club has 648 members. Another Wellington Club, the Swifts, has 424. Thei-e- are somo smaller clybs besides. , ~v There' is < every possibility that the NeM r Zealand Amateur Swimming Championships meeting will be- hjeld in Auckland this season, says the Star. F. E. Beaurepaire, the youngVAustralian champion* is credited by>^some English critics .with being tho -possessor of an ugly stroke. According to one writer J3eaurepaire's sin is that he buries himself in the water to I ' "such an extent that at times, ori^v , the crown of his head is visible/"' TMs is, undoubtedly, a serious defect in' swimming distances in a long stretch of water; but, on tho other hand, some of tho 'world's most brilliant swimmers have been addicted to, it, and. .-have nevertheless put up remarkable < performances. Daniels, the crack American swimmer, not only himself uses the ' "Ijead under" style, but actually recommends it for both the crawls and the trudgeon. ' With some swhnttiers, however, its adoption invariably, develops a bad j habit of erratic steering. A case in point' is Freyberg, tho young champion, whose crooked, swimming is sometimes painful to behold. In fact, it was this fault, which deprived ",'him last season of the Wellington '.Ge*ntre lOQyds 'championship^ and which "also probably, had a great deal to do M'ith his non-success at the Napier carnival. ' '; \ ' \ x