SWIMMING

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1926, Page 4

SWIMMING

ACTIVITY IN TARANAKI PROSPECTS FOR THE SEASON. (By “Trudgeon.”) The week just passed has seen great activities in Taranaki swimming circles. The centre held its annual meeting and the various clubs forwarded reporta and financial statements. The Maranui Surf Club (Wellington) intimated that they would be competing for the Nelson Shield competition at New Plymouth.. They also said that, if the Taranaki centre would guarantee a sufficient sum, they would send some of Wellington’s best swimmers to give exhibitions in the most important towns in Taranaki. New Plymouth was asked to guarantee twenty pounds and Stratford and Hawera fifteen pounds each. These centres should have no difficulty in obtaining the required amount. The Australian Swimming Association is very puzzled concerning the telegrams from the New Zealand Association in regard to the tour of the Australian lady swimmers. It considers that, seeing that the invitation has been accepted, nothing more needed to be done on its part, and that it was left to the New Zealand Association to conclude arrangements. There should be no trouble now in connection with the tour. (Later advice states that the tour has been postponed, probably until the new year.) The New Zealand- National Championships are to be held this year at Auckland, commencing on January 22nd. The swimmers to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games in 1928 will be chosen from these championships. In regard to the Kellerman Cup race, the Auckland Head Centre decided that the race should be held over a triangular course in the harbour. On Monday night the Fitzroy Surf Club held a practice of its members who are going to give demonstrations at Waitara and Opunake. Members are also notified that a practice is held every Thursday evening and that such members are requested to attend. The Fitzroy Club in particular deserves a word of praise because it was that club which mainly kept carnivals in motion last year. During the wait between races, the members of the Fitzroy Club usually came to light -with some stunts and thus added to the’ enjoyment of the evening. . . In Mr. Tom Brown, New Plymouth has a very enthusiastic and willing swimmer. Mr. Brown is very efficient in coaching and is willing to coach anyone who will take notice of what he has to teach them. If only a few of the promising young swimmers of Taranaki would place themselves in his hands, they would find that their stroke and consequently their swimming would quickly improve. Neville Johnson has a good style, and .with a little coaching should do well in carnivals. Previous to this season he has been handicapped so that he just missed getting a place. So far this season not much interest has been shown in regard to swimming, but now that: the weather is getting warmer, it is to be hoped more people will try their skill in the aquatic sport. Jack Law and Cyril Plumtree show good promise this year, and their elu'b captain, Bill Toomey, is as energetic as ever. Toomey is the life and soul of the Fitzroy Club. The New Plymouth Club held its annual meeting on Tuesday night. It is to be hoped that this club meets with greater success this season than it did last.season. The ladies are very enterprising. They have got into action both in social and athletic branches, their tennis season having opened on Saturday. NOTES. It looks as though the Channel swim might be made an annual sporting feature with the entrants classified (says an American writer). There should be a race for ladies, a race for gentlemen, a race for parents, one for grand-par-ents, and a free-for-all race. The only trouble with this notion is that the proceeds from Channel racing will be comparatively negligible. Obviously, it is impossible to build a grandstand in the Channel, and to collect gate receipts. If this were possible, the channel swim would be a perpetual annual event. But, after due consideration, it looks as though I may have been almost right in the first instance. As the boys say, there is no future in Channel swimming. The Americans have no time for the loser in sports. They will vociferously cheer the winner, and then flock in thousands to.see him deposed, and will cheer the victor just as loud and as long as they previously had cheered the vanquished when he was the victor. This, by way of mentioning that Lillian Cannon, of Baltimore (Mrs. Edwin Day), who made two unsuccessful attempts to swim the Channel, on her arrival at New York was not met by any bands and made the centre of a noisy demonstration such as was the case of at least two previous arrivals who were successful. Miss Cannon or Mrs. Day, to give her her right placing, was one of the many who had bad luck. On her first attempt she had to give up owing to an electrical storm, and the second, owing to strained muscles. “Swimming the Channel,” she said, “is purely a matter of luck,” and with this a London paper agrees. That so many succeeded in swimming the Channel this year, it said, was due to the fact that the tides were easier than usual, and the successful swimmers had the luck to strike extra favourable tides. Miss’Barrett, the American school teacher, who stands over 6ft and weighs over lost, had, perhaps, the hardest luck of all. She was favoured by a suitable tide, but just when success looked a certainty, a thick fog came down, and, for over eleven hours, she drifted hither and thither, her pilots having completely lost their bearings. But for the fog it is avowed that Miss B.irrett would not only have been the first woman to swim the Channel, but would have made the passage in record time. But “luck” was against her. Several others, both men and woman, also had cause to say that luck was against them in their attempts. Some years ago Jabez Woolf actually got within 300 yards of the shore, and was then swept away by the tide. Some people say there is no such thing as luck. Channel swimmers think otherwise.