SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 9

SWIMMING.

'(Br Splash.)

COMING CARNIVALS. Mar. 23.— N.Z. Championships, at Napior.

Tho Wellington Centre's championship carnival, held at tho.Thorndon Baths last Saturday, was -productive of ■ some interesting racing. The bill of fare was enticing, but the attendance was not as large as might have been anticipated. ,

Tho Schoolboys' Championships did not at-■ tract many starters.' Tho first distauco was mapped out for three heats, but as only' 11 competitors came forward one heat was dispensed with. The. field for 100 Yards Schoolboys' Championship was also small. Both distances were, won by C. H. Capper, who . , proved himself a'class ahead of his .opponents and won fairly easily on both occasions; , Young Capper; has an attractive style, and' : - "appears to.gekthrough the water without any . effort. Tho next;- season or two., should see ..f him amongst.the first-raters. "A number of tho visiting swimmers turned • out for the 50 Yards Inter-Club Handicap. The first heat was won by "Happy" .Smith',- '■ with B. Rhiud, of Christchurcli, and, G. P. ; Hanna, dead heat, second. C. Bryant, .of Christchurcli, and D. Howard, who has been • away from Wellington for some time, .dead;heatcd for first placo in the second'heat. The • third heat saw visitors in both first and « second places—P. O. Schwartz, Christcburch, and ,F. Truscott,' Christchurchj coming first and N second...respectively, . C.\M. Ward , got;.; .home in, the fourth heat,- H., Pettit,- of Nel- .'/. son, taking second place. Bull, Rich, and • Thomson,- air of Canterbury, were'first, s&-. coiid,"and third'- in the ( next heat. The last .heat was tho . fastest if the series, and . re- . suited in . a great race between two,of the •. scratch mpn, Allan and Emerson, of' Nelson. Both 'men. crawled the whole distance /and' dead' heated' ■ for first' place.Kelly,' late'; of ' Nelson, filled'the second.place. ■ The distance ■ .was, cut out. in ; the excellent timo of 28sec. ' llie final fell to Bryant,-who got home with Allaii and' Emerson following him in the ■ order named; • ' '•

■ .Tho Provincial Championships were left to Roberts and. Ereyberg., ,In the 100 Yards' ' Roberts,, as anticipated in this column 1 last wepk, - succeeded: in': lowering tho, colours of the Swifts 1 champion. ■ i The Thorndon man equalled the New. Zealand -standard for the distance, aiid ! but for being fouled by his op- : ? pon'ent at.the end of the'first 50 yards must. 1 liavo knocked something ,off- Gssec.-:

• Freyberg arid' Lynch were the only , two to enter tlie water. for the ,'l4O Provincial Championship. At tho end of the first lap Froy- , berg had .established '> a lead of about : 7ft.,>; and by the time the 100 was ,left behind h«_-"-had added'slightly to' his lead.l; At 150 yards) : Lynch had come up a little, /Freyberg. having taken, a bad course. Tyro, hundred yards saw'the; champion leading by about 10 ft., but Lynch' was hanging:to,him, and was 'be- , .'- ;ing urged on. ; - by tho spectator's. When covering tho final 50 of the 400 yards Lynch again \ appeared to improve his . position ; : ■slightly, but he had not as much left in him' ' as Freyberg at the : business end. The younger , swimmer spurted over ,tlie final 5. stretch, and left his opponent about 20yd3< : behind, winning, in the, fast time of Gmin. 22 2-osec,, and thus boating the NeW Zealand'.standard of: i'6min, 25sec. Freyberg 'covered.; tho various laps as follows, tho figures in-parenthesis being the ,lap . times \ for the same swimmer's, record for the distance, Crnin. Bsec.loo yards, ,69sec. (70scc.), 150 yards, lntin.' 55sec. (lmin. SOsec), 200 •' yards, 2min. 39sec. ,(2min. 36sec.), 250 yards, . 3min. 42se'c. (3min. 19scc.), 300 yards,. 4min. : ' lOsec. (4min. 1 v ■ 350 yards, smin. (4min.. oOsec.), 400 yards; smin. 47sec: (omin; 34sec.), 440 yards, 6mm. 22 2-ssee. (6min.' Bsec,). - " The neatest; header conipetition was; won ■ by P; Schwartz, of Christchurch, who gained. > a victory over, the best of the' local 'divers.

-The four heats of tho 100 Yards Inter-Club" Handicap were v fairly , interesting, in view tho appearance of. the visitors. H. Rich,',of '■ Canterbury,, won his heat in 72 2-osec., and Fi.'lS'. Dodge, Canterbury, also,-, showed .the way: home in his heat,. the .time for which was 70jl-ssec. The- final resolvea itself : into , n contest between M'Leod and Ward. . .The former looked'to liavo the race well in hand 25, yards from home, but Ward cake at .the .: • leader,, and,, swimming, a .plucky,•.race, won/ i. with, something-to spare.

;There were only threo competitors in tho. Life-Saving Race,' which was won by R. Ronayno. There'was more racing than lifesaving Ronayno's performance. In his anxiety to.get to the winning post ho forgot all about his ."drowning" boy, who was ducked'every couple of strokes.' The'boy took the.mouthfills of salt water like mother's milk,:• and had - the. satisfaction of getting, homo first. . .

The Water Polo Championship of New Zealand was a great success. The two heats, fully described on' Monday, resulted in thei. Wellington teams, coming out on--top each time, Swifts defeating 'Nelson,' and Wellington 'accounting.for Canterbury. '

The the .polo championship played on Monday evening resulted in an easy vie- ' tory for. Swifts,' wh'oso''. combination 'enabled them .to. beat Wellington by 3to 1. A feature of the game- was the amount of work done by Lynch, who. stood head and shoulders . : abovo his mates; and showed an 'intimate':-. - knowledge of tho finer points of the'" game/ - which were quite foreign to the others. ,;The>two remaining distances of the School boys' 'Championships" were- also decided on Monday, when'young Capper again proved - { his superiority over the other schoolboys, by winning' both distances. ■ Capper, has' won the.whole four of tho. boys' champion- ' ' ships: for the.year,,a.performance of',, which, he may well-be proud.

The Wellington Amateur Swimming Club ! decided tho final distance for Dr.- Chapple'B ' Cup (150 yards) at To Aro Baths on Thurs- : day, evening/', and. despite..the. heavy' rain arid'..rough water , over a dozen swimmers took" part ,in the race. A. Wine proved to bo tho ' winner. Wine swam well and deserved his ' win. Ho will hold, the cup a year. C. Ward andJß.; O'Neill tied for-second place. Ward ' ;swam. a good race,.-and was travelling much faster' than "; the' others at the finish, with v tho oxcoption.'of L. Bridge, who put in ono of his usual vigorous finishes, but could only manago to.swim into fourth place. O'Neiil ' deserves a ivord of praise for tho manner in which, he swam.. His -swimming came as a, / surpriso in view of the fact that ho has not lately been in the habit of swimming- much' ovor-50 yards. Points for. the .cup were; scored'as follows,:—A. Wine lOj C. .Aston 5, ' C. Ward 4i, 3, B. O'Neill IJ, H. Ashford 1, H. Jenkinson 1. A. Wine secured two . firsts, namely in the 100 yards and'the ~' 150 yards distances. Aston secured one first, • tho 50 yards. C. Ward secured second place ; in the 100 and tied for second in the 150 yards. Bridgo secured second place; in the. 50 -yards;- The points. fo'r the cup. it -will be seen,; .ire well distributed, ' and tho Club feels.. . gratified that tho competition has' aroused so much. enthusiasm, especially, amongst the ■ younger, swimmers'.; . ' . :•

. 'The Y.M.C.A.' boys' -race on Thursday evening brought - out 1 --11-, starters.- A. O'Hara-Smith,-with a liberal handicap,-won in the fair time of 44sec. ; W." Henderson camo se- { - cond, and C. Beaumont, who looked' as if. he ' had'the race at, his mercy at 40 yards, came third. Judging l by-the number of promising swimmers this Club counts in its ranks, it \ that its future success is assured. It is vory pleasing to note/that-the daugh- - tor of such a prominent supporter of swimming as Dr. Chapplo should win tho School- ' girls' Championship, and I desire to con- > gratulate Miss Ella Chapplo on her success. She won the whole of tho four distances in a " most decisive manner t and thoroughly • dcsorves the honour which she carries. Mi«s t ■ Olive Arthur, although qui to a small girl, is a plucky , swimmer. Miss E. Burr is also doserving of a word of, praise; for tho rigour which she- put into hor swimming.- These championships weroheld at Te Aro Batha during tho week, and the young ladies desorve ovory; credit for. rolling up. to swim in such abominable swimming weather. -. The championships for schoolboys were also held at To Aro this week, and youny Henry ' Capper has proved himself easily, the best of the schoolboys this season, and had no difficulty • in carrying off the .championship honours. Capper, was a member of tho'team' from Clyde Quay School which annexed the '-' Duthio Cup. in tho first year it was competed for, and mado his'debut in handicap events in one of the races held by the Wot lington Club.