SWIMMING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2451, 16 March 1909, Page 3

SWIMMING.

THE TRUDGEON STROKE. BEAUEEPAHtE CHATS ABOUT SWIMMING. The mode of swimming on the Continent differs very little in comparison with our own. So says the youthful champion, Frank E. Beaurepaire. who recently returned from a tour through England, Scotland, Belgium, and France. He found all the long-distance men using the trudgeon stroke. The crawl is, he says, faster, but it is resorted to only in sprint events. The breast stroke he found to be quite out of date. While being rubbed down after his morning’s practice at the CityBaths, Woolcomcoloo Bay, recently, lie said that he was best over long distances. He said he used the trudgeon stroke when he won the lialf-miie and mile championships at Home last year—the same as he had done in the quarter, mile and half-mile championships at the last Sydney carnival. He believes swimming to be more popular here than it is at Home.

“What I mean by more popular is that there are considerably more people in each thousand in Australia who go in for swimming than there are in England. This might be due to the''fact that the facilities are not the same there as here. The sport, however, is on the up grade in the. Old Country, and I expect to see it become more and more attractive. In England and Scotland the baths are heated during the winter months, and swimming is indulged in the whole year round.” “I Lave met Cecil Healy,” lie continued. “Last year we. competed at Perth in a quarter-mile race, which I won.

“Healy, like Daniels, of New York, is a class champion—a sprinter. Hardwick holds the championship of New South Wales over 300.yds. The best men I have ever met are H. Taylor and T. F. Battersby. Taylor is a. wellknown distance swimmer. He beat me over 500yds in England last year. Battersby, a comparitively new man, also beat me. But I, in turn, beat both of them. My wins, in England were —■ 440yds (salt water), 4m 595;; half-mile, 11m 44s ; and one mile, 25m 15s. The late B. B. Kiernan and I have each won four championships. I won also three

Belgian championships, and ope ill France.

“Good as the present day chaiftpions are, none of them cant in my opinion, compare with Iviernari for time records over 220yds to a mile'; _ He was the best swimmer we have produced. The nearest- I got to his record oi sffl i?J t° r 440yds was sni 23 4-ss. D. Rillingtok beat him in England over a mile in 24m 42 3'-ss) : but Ivieran was not then in form. In winning this same mile cliamXiionship race last year, I took 25m 1.55, and it so happened that I was the first Australian to succeed to the- prize. My best time for a mile 23m 475. This was in Belgium during last year. Z. de Halmay, the Hungarian , who - won the 100yds championship when Ivieran went Home, is at present under suspension for riot answering questions put to him by the Hungarian Association. " “1 would not like to dictate what any swimmer should do or should not do to achieve fame in the water. But I

will say I am a total abstainer. I am ].7) years of age, -and still attending school. Any young man strong enough might gain a swimming championship if lie is regular in his practice and attends well to his health. Cecil Hcaly excepted, all our Australian champions have established themselves at the age of ,18 years... In England the age is higher, due," hbMlbttbt,-..to,.the different climate. Maturity is earlier here. 1 believe in the use of oil for rubbing down after strenuous work in the water ; some use embrocation. Some, too, use oil before going in. I regard swimming as excellent exercise ; it gives play to all the muscles. Walking, I should say, would be good exercise for one who aims high in the -swimming world. 1 don’t do much walking, but in the winter I go in for football, simply because 1 like it. I have been swimming in contests for about three years. “It was Kieran who advised me to go in for long-distance work. This was at Albert Park just throe weeks before his death. The first long-distance men I. mot were Alason and Clegg, both Victorians. I regard Alason as the most improved, man in Victoria. Sydney people can -see him at the present carnival. Clegg, of Ballarat, won a championship recently in British Columbia. Alason and I came out the same year. AJy swimming weight- is 10st 3ib, and my height is oit Tin. I don’t know what my chest measurement is, but they tell me I have a- thick chest, and big muscles on the body below the arm socket. lam told that Kieran was not so deep through the chest, but that he was broader in the shoulders. He and Billington. as well as many ether swimmers, had big hands and feet. Afy hands are small, and my feet, too. 1 believe large hands would bo an advantage to a swimmer. As to practice, Igo in about twice a day. TV bile hero in Sydney my times are after breakfast and after dinner—sav, a couple of hours after each meal. TYheu at home I go in before breakfast and before tea. I

never go swimming on a heavy meal. “My first public competition,” Jleauropaire went on to say, “was with Mr R. M. Collins, the present niamig >r of the Victorian team? Three years ago at the Lilydale baths he gave nm cj o second over 120yds. and he got second to me. Before that I was in the halut of taking part in school races. I was in school competitions when 10 years ci

ago The young champion staled that sportsmen in Australia more than stood favourable comparison with those at Home. He did not meet with swimmers of any particular ability in France., but he met a few in Belgium. He regard's the Sydney new Corporation Baths as the best for all purposes that lie has seen anywhere.

It is announced that a South African team will visit America and England in the summer,' and in this connection the following Memphis telegram, wliicii appeared in the San Francisco "Examiner” is of interest :—lt is President Roosevelt’s wish that J. A. Rector, champion short-distance sprinter oi America-, who was beaten by E. E, V t-.l leer, the South African, at the London Olympic Games last summer, should meet Walker when the South A‘ j can tours this country next eumm°r. Ibis information has been imparted to Rector in a letter from the President, and efforts are being made to induce Rector, senior, to agree to the proposal, Rector having promised bis father to retire forever from athletics. Young Rector was here to-day, en route from his home to resume law studies at the University of Virginia. “1 don’t know what father will say,” said the flyer; "but I still believe I can beat Walker, and certainly will try my best if it is arranged.”