Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-17

~ AM A MONlNA, CdliI.' january
17-George Young, the swim
ming world hero winner of the
~ Wrigley $4,000 ocean mara
thon, told the Associated Pres.
last night that he had staked on the
race his most priced possession, hi:
amateur standing, for his mother
sake. Other than her, he said, he has
no relative, and she is dependent up0r
him.
The Canadian boy is emphatically
a mothers boy, and he is proud o.
it. He said
Il put everything I had into this
race for my mother. 1t was not much
perhaps, but it was my all. my anna
teur standing as Canadian champion
/ wanted to bring her to California.
II got as far as Arizona on my
motor cycle. and then it broke down
I was nearly broke, too. honey
moon couple picked me up and
brought me on to California, but
do not know their names.
Strategy That Won.
"As for the swim itself, my mana
ger, Henry O'Bryne. and l planned
the strategy that won.
I'VE planned against the tides and
currents and we figured that it would
take IL hours to make the swim, con-
sidering the tide and the drift in my
favor.
1.-THE most discoura ging period of
the grind came when | was one and
one-quarter miles from shore, when
the outfiowing tide showed me back,
but, in contrast to this, the lighthouse
on Point Vicente and the flares set
by spectators on the beach were the
most welcome sights l ever saw.
Give times during the 0aV ana
night I changed my course to meet
the opposition of the tides"
The handsome but modest and I'M
assuming youth then told of his strug-
gle against a 50-yard field of kelp loo
yards from shore.
This wrapped itself around my
neck and legs, but that only added
to my determination to win, so
dug in.
Il had taken off my bathing suit
when l was two and one-half miles
from Catalina and forgot that grease
and graphite were my only covering
as I rose out of the water at the
shore, so that I beat it back into the
waves to my convoy boat.
''You see, we put a covering of
graphite over the grease before 1 put
on my bathing suit to help keep out
the cold.
Swims Through Oil.
about seven miles out from the
Santa Catalina starting point / had
to swim through 200 yards of heavy
oil It gave me plenty of trouble.
had to keep my head up out of the
water to prevent the oil getting into
my eyes, nose and mouth.
.Oh, there were plenty of rough
spots, but l finally got to where l
was going, and today the only i'll eff
feet / feel is a little soreness in my
shoulder. The heat had returned to
my body 10 minutes after l left the
water with blue skin. l lost five
pounds during the race. Going into
the race after training at Santa Mon
lea. I weighed lit pounds. l went
ashore at Point Vicente weighing 172
pounds. My heart and pulse were
normal FIVE minutes after | boarded
the convoy boat at the finish.
We'll, to go back to the beginning,
left Toronto. Ontario, with my pal.
William Hastings, to come to Cali
fornia to work. My idea was that If
I could come here to win this swim
I would have the money to give my
mother a home in California. She is
the only relative I've got.
I'VE made the trip as far as Arizona
in motor cycle and side car. There
we had to drop the motor bike when
it went bad, but a young honeymoon
couple gave us lift the remainder of
the way. / do not know their names.
Had Over so Cents.
ut has been said that l reached
California with only so cents. ! was
certainly nearly broke, but so cents is
stretching the story a lot.
After had done some hard work
in the Santa Monica surf and we had
planned my campaign for the Santa
Catalina swim, both O'Bryne and l
were sure ! would get across the
channel. O'Bryne accompanied me in
my convoy boat.
Saturday morning, the day of the
art, I had a cup of tea and some
toast at o'clock. Tea is my strong
hold drink. l never drink liquor, l do
not smoke and / do not keep late
hours.
when l took off / decided to use
the American crawl stroke, some of
them call it the trudgeon.
Between 11:21 am, starting time.
and 2 pm. l covered miles. It's
funny, but / did not get seasick dur
ing the entire swim, while / always
get seasick on a boat.
Every time my convoy rang the
dinner bell during the grind l came
up smiling for my refreshments.
Drinks Hot Chocolate.
1--WE had three quart bottles of hot
chocolate along. l guess l drank the
most of it, l also ate three cakes of
chocolate and drank one pint of beef
tea. I drank from soda pop bottles
filed with the beef tea and hot
chocolate.
And to show you how good felt.
I heaved one of the empty bottles at
my convoy boat IL feet away.
After we got out a long way. they
told me that mother was listening in
on the radio for reports of the swim
That popped me up and l did not feel
the cold so much,
II think l averaged about 2 miles
per hour for the. whole swim. MAX
ing probably 80 miles, which. of course
includes my drift with the tide after
7 had headed up the channel. / guess
q lot of the swimmers were wonder
ing why / was going up that way
ibid you notice that Norman Ross
followed right in my wake? Ross
certainly swan a beautiful race.
Never Was Discouraged
at never was discouraged at any
stage of the game. l never figured
that I would have to quit. / was sure
OF nv physical condition from the
start and was in good shape all the
way.
Il believe a swimmer should keep