Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-31
INTEREST IN SWIMMING
is GREATLY INCREASED

The year 1911 has been a notable one
for the many aquatic records broken
The interest in swimming all over the
world seems to be on the Increase and
this is especially true Of the ladies, for
more records have been created this
year by lady swimmers then ever before
and some Of them are excellent marks.
Probably the greatest event Of the year
was the swimming Of the English chan
mel by T. w. Burgess. an Englishman.
who has been trying to cross the famous
stretch of water for several years, but
never with success until September 6.
when he succeeded in swimming from
Dover on the English side to Cape
Grisnez in France, In twenty-five hours
and thirty-fve minutes. There have been
many swimmers who have made the at
tempt to cross the channel. but for over
thirty-five years no one ever succeeded
until Tom Burgess made It, The only
other man known to have ever crossed
the channel was Capt. Matthew Webb,
who swan from Dover to Calais August
24-25, 1875. and he covered the thirty-five
miles in twenty-one hours and forty-five
minutes, a little better than Burgess
time, but the tide and water conditions
may have had much to do with that.
Capt. Webb tried to swim Niagara rapids
in 1883 and was drowned.
Aside from the wonderful marks set
by Charles NJ. Daniels, the American
ian, named William Longworth, stands
out as the most prominent. This lad Is
only nineteen years of age, but his SWIM
ming has been phenomenal The writer
was present in Sydney, Australia, and
held the watch with three others when
Longworth made his famous swim in the
1,32O-yard event, beating such stars as
Cecil Healy and Frank Beaupepaire, the
worlds champion at that distance. The
time was II minutes AZ seconds and had
Longworth been pushed at all in the last
300 yards he would have cut off another
70 seconds. Daniels held the record
formerly. Later Longworth covered III
yards in the record time Of 1 minute
seconds. It might be well to add here
that there is no country on earth where
they have SO many good swimmers as
Australia. This is explained when 1t Is
known that In no place in the world are
bathing resorts as in Sydney. AT the Do
main baths it is a common sight to see
as many as $4,000 people attending big
swimming events.
not create as many new records as he did
In 1910, but he made some very creditable
marks and tied several Of his previous
records. He established new mark for
the 200 meters. doing 1t IN a: ~; ana later
Michael McDermott Of Chicago proved
a. great swimmer for the Illinois A. c..
and set new marks for breast stroke
work He covered 100 yards ut that style
in 1 minute IL is seconds and won the
ten-mile marathon at st Louis. Harry
Hebner of Chicago was another good per-
former at breast and back stroke.
The work of the ladies was unusually
good. Miss Aisle Aykroyd, a seventeen
year-old girl of Boston. swan nine miles
to Charleston bridge in hours and IL
minutes Miss Elaine Golding OF New
York swan from Coney Island to the Bat
terry. and Miss Hazel Laugenourm, Miss
Liba Sheffield and her sister Mdta swan
the Golden Cato at San Francisco: Miss
Daisy Curwen Of London SWAN 800 yards
I'M minutes 81 Is seconds and Miss Vera
Neave one second and a fifth slower. but
later tied the record of Miss Curwen and
did the 200 yards in 2 minutes 81 seconds.
Miss Elba Whitaker of Milwaukee swan
100 wards in 1 minute % seconds, but with
the back stroke and swan the 200 yards
within a second of the record.