SWIMMING MATCHES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4988, 19 March 1877, Page 2

SWIMMING MATCHES.

On Saturday afternoon a series of swimming matches came off. at the Thorndon Baths. The attendance of visitors was not very largej owing in the first place-doubtless to the influence of counter atti actions,-and inaddition to this the afternoon was unpleasantly cold in such an exposed position as that which the Thorndon Baths occupy. The contests generally speaking were exciting, especially in the 500 yards handicap. The H.M.S. Sappho'* crew were well represented, and while localmen proved too good in some.instances,.the. man-of-war's men succeeded in carrying off the priacipal prizes, • including that for-the "big event," the handicap before mentioned. In the under age contests the Butts'family showed to great advantage; there was a representative of the family in almost every class, and they were more often - victors than they were beaten. Annexed is a, list of the events:— ■' Boys Under Eleven ; 75 yards,—Carpenter, 1 ; Thomas. Butts, 2. Carpenter had it all his way, being very much the larger and stronger. * Boys' under 15 ; 75 yards.—-George Butts, 1; Carpenter, 2. The Butts family had its revenge on Carpenter,, for George Butts beat him easily in this race. - Long Dive.—Edward, Butts, 1; Joseph Pembleton, •2. There were five' entries, but the contest lay between the first two. Pembleton is a colored man from the Sappho, and. hie shipmates, who were very eager to give 3:to 1 on the darkie, were considerably surprised by the distance by. which Butts ".beat their favorite—some four or five yards. The winning dive measured nearly 50 yards. Boys' under 18 ; 150 yards.—Crocker, 1 ; George Butts, 2. Swimming on the Back; 75 yards.— Withers, 1 ; Geary, 2. Long Dive, Boys' under 15. —W. Murphy, 1. Handicap ; 500 yards. —C. Crocker (45secs.), 1 ; Masters 2; J. Luke (scratch), 3 ; A. Miller (80 sees.), 4. This was the race of the day, but after the performance of Crocker, who had won as he liked in the boys' under 18 race, it was looked upon as almost a certainty for him, he having a start;of 45secs., which was equivalent to something. over .yards, i Luke swam very well,. but. he was too heavily handicapped, and failed to come near Crocker or Masters. '•'.■; ,;;.. ■. ''.:':. . : Running Header ; boys', under; .3,-8-t-G. Butts, 1. The performances of the boys were very poor. | i Swimming and Floating, with Legs and Hands and Crombie were the only competitors, and both swam on chest and back at'a fair, pace, and floated iu various ways. The judges declared the competitors equal. •'.-''. - Seventy-five Yards Swimming--Match—A.-G." was a very fast race.. Won by, a var&and.ft. half/' ■ ■ '6-" "■;■ ■ - , - Running Header—W. A j Nelson, 1. None of the headers were-good, but-Nelson wasawarded the prize. - In this iand the-boys? ; header. match,, the judges; would have been quite justified in declining to award a prize.. . Mr-E. D-Butts_was starter, and Mr. CM. Crombie acted as judge, except in the races in which he was a competitor.