GIRL SWIMMER WILL ATTEMPT COOK STRAIT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18614, 16 November 1928, Page 7

GIRL SWIMMER WILL ATTEMPT COOK STRAIT.

LILY COPPLESTONE EXPECTS TO HAVE STRENUOUS TASK. Ail attempt to swim Cook Strait will be made by Miss Lily Copplestone, the noted distance swimmer, early next year. “It is going to be pretty hard,” stated Miss Copplestone, in announcing her intention yesterday. “ The Strait is one of the roughest in the world, and the water is cold. These handicaps will be a serious disadvantage to me. There is also a difference of several hours in the tides on the South and North Island coasts bordering the Strait. There will be a great amount of training to be undertaken, but it is the matter of becoming accustomed to the water that I have seriously to consider. The New Zealand championships will also be held early next year, but my attempt will not clash with the fixture.” The start will be made from the top of Queen Charlotte Sound, but the landing place will depend on the state of the tide. At the beginning of this year Miss Copplestone won the Kellerman Cup for the New Zealand marathon race over a distance of three miles in the Otago harbour. She was the only lady competitor, and with a handicap of 29 minutes won comfortably, being 16 minutes ahead of the second competitor. During the past three years Miss Copplestone has held the following Canterbury championships :—44oyds ladies, 220 yards, lOOyards, 100 yards backstroke, and the ladies’ dive. She is a member of the Borough .and East Ashburton Swimming Clubs, and has been occupied in coaching members of the former club. A similar interest will be shown in the East Ashburton Club when its season is opened. The attempt to swim the Strait has only once been made. Early this year R. J. Webster, of Auckland, was forced

to abandon the endeavour on account of the intense coldness of the water, vvhen within a few miles of his objecThere is also another aspirant to the honour of being the first swimmer to conquer the Strait. Miss Mercedes Gleitze, who swam the English Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar, but who failed in an attempt to swim the Irish Sea, has notified her intention of attempting to swim Cook Strait early in 1929.