SWIMMING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11028, 17 March 1914, Page 2

SWIMMING.

THE SEASON ENDS. CARNIVAL AT WOOLSTON. (By NATATOH,) The cold water season was successfully brought to a close on Saturday last, ,when (he Wook-ton Club held its first annual carnival. Tho club was very unfortunate on its fir.st attempt, as it had io postpone the carnival owing to the inclement weather on January 31. Tho swimmers were well rewarded for. any inconvenience, inasmuch as the weather on Saturday was almost as warm as any Saturday throughout the season. Notwithstanding the various attractions, there was a good attendance of spectators. Tho management was not up to the standard, but the club can bo excused to a certain extent by the fftcfc that most of its officials had not acted at an interclub carnival before. v They all worked hard, but there were several delajs, caused chiefly by-a number of competitors' names being left off the pro-

gramme. There was one incident which liiusfc be drawn attention to, and that was i the result hoard. The official at tho ! board was willing enough, but by some means he got the wrong names of the winners upon the board for tho second heat of the inter-club event. G. Ohrystall won the heat and his name was announced by the judges, but some officious person gave the wrong name to the official at the result board. The trouble was that the spectators v.ere allowed to gather round tho officials, and, of course, all had their own opinions. To make matters worse the officer who made out the semi-finals evidently took his results from the board, and he put Woodfield into the semi-final, hut the mistako was found out in time to allow Chrystall to swim in the semi-final. This incident caused a good deal of discussion and dissatisfaction, and Woodfield really thought he won the heat, hence ho was annoyed when he found he was not placed first. All the judges were competent men, and they gave their result in favour of Chrystall, and if some other person gives the officer at the result board another name the judges cannot bo held resoonsible for that error.

The Woolston Club has a good many promising young swimmers in its ranks, as well a3 many hard-working officials, and I venture to say that next year the Woolston Club will rank among the first class clubs of Christcliurcii. With H. Randall in the club, who is doing the 50 yards in the good time of round about 30sec. he is sure to be the mainstay of the club. _ The inter-club event of 50 yards provided thirteen well-contested heats, most of which produced some good close finishes. Some good times were put up in the heats. E. Sweeney put up the fastest time, viz., 29sec, while li. Rich took 30 4-ssec. Several heatswimmers showed improved form, which is always the way at the end of the season when it is' too late. L. Coulter, A. Morrow, O. Steven and G, Chrystall showed best improvement, each of whom swam slightly under the handicap. The winner turned up in G. Chaclder-

ton, of the Woolston Club., He swam his heat in 38sec, second place to Morrow in semi-final, and then finished first in the final in 36 l-osec. The three swims apparently did not do hint any harm, as he swam the final in better time than his previous two swims. E. Sweeney,, with 2sec and swimming his heat in 29sec, wag picked out as the probable winner, but had to be content with second place. G. Chrystall, who finished third, should take the sport on more consistently to do any good, and what is more' ho cannot stand the third swim too well, as in his time in his heat and semi-final he should have been closer up than he was. Ihe ladies' race was a good one,, and both the heats were won on the touch. The final was somewhat of a chase, as Mrs Johnston had 22sec start from Miss Eade (scr). ' Mrs ■ Johnston led all the way, and finished a touch ahead of Miss Eade. The diving was rather out of the ordinary, _ inasmuch as the competitors had to dive three times, one each of running springboard (plain), one fancy sea one swallow dive. The diving was good all round, and some of the fancy dives caused much amusement. L. Annand and L. Rich had to dive off, and the latter scored the win by a narrow margin. The Schoolgirls' Championship was revived and with most satisfactory results. The entries totalled forty-five schoolgirls representing sixteen schools, among them being girls from Ashbm*ton. This entry is easily a New Zealand record. Forty girls started, necessitating six heats. It is -ery pleasing to see the large amount of interest taken in the championship by the girls. The, boys started well this season, but nothing compared with the girls, and if, say, half of the girls remain in the competition to the last distance, then the boys stand a big chance of being put in'the shade. The remaining distances will le swum at the Tepid Baths on March 16, 19 and 26, at & p.m.