10.10 TWO LENGTHS INVITATION HANDICAP (FINAL) Winner of Heat z. Second Round ff ts fttl PP Pt ,, 4. 11 If 1St 2nd 3rd 4thTime too YARDS CHAMPIONSHIP (THREE LENGTHS) Holder CHARLES J. LENTON, Liverpool Swimming Club, won once.
The stations were drawn by lot, No. i and 6 to start from right hand side of the starter, others in order. First and second in each heat to swim in the final.
Special programmes should always be prepared for the press, the matter being only printed on one side, or else the programme interleaved.
If the gala be taking place in a bath, the secretary should be present some time before the meeting, so as to make all arrangements necessary for the comfort of the spectators and competitors. At the starting end on both sides for about ten yards down the bath a canvas screen, about three feet high, should be erected, so as to prevent visitors being drenched with water when the competitors dive. If possible, this canvas screen should be extended the whole length of the bath on either side. The seats should be arranged, and the reserved portion properly marked off. Poles and cords for hurdle races, tubs for the tub races, and polo whistles, bell, ball, flags, and goal-posts, should be in readiness. Plates for plate diving, measure, and tape for plunging, &c., should also be thought of if such events are included in the programme. Rosettes for the stewards and officials are necessary, and in order to save the necessity of hunting around for pins, each rosette should be fitted at the back with an ordinary trouser button, so that it may be easily fastened in the button-hole of a coat. Each steward should be allotted his place, and given general instructions as to the conduct of the meeting. The starting end should be kept absolutely clear for the officials, and, if there be a water-polo match, one side of the bath for the referee. Accommodation for reporters should not be over looked.
A scoring-board is essential, as nothing is more uninterest ing to spectators than a series of races among men absolutely unknown to them, and whose personality is not even recognis able except by continued shouting for the name of the winner. If the scoring-board be limited in size, the name of the race, number of heat, and number of non-starters need only be hoisted for the start, the first three and the time being put up on the board after the judge has notified to the telegraphist his decision. It requires a smart steward for this work, and
one not likely to get flurried when the starting of one heat follows closely upon the finish of another. A telephone from the dressing-room to the starting-board would be useful. The clerk of the course, or whip, must also be a smart and experi enced official, because upon his energy depends the success of the meeting. It is important that he should get the men ready to start sharp to time, and notify to the starter and telegraphist before the conclusion of the previous heat the numbers of the non-starters for the next heat.
If there be a plunging contest, the whip should request the starters in it not to disturb the water unnecessarily, so as to affect the plunging of those starting after them.
For open-water galas the general duties of officials are the same, but the arrangements have to be made in accordance with the suitabilities of the venue. If right out in the open, two clean hulks or steamers should be moored, one at each end of the course, and the sides formed by lashing together poles or baulks of timber. All boats should be moored outside the course, and a police boat, if obtainable, stationed on either side. For starting purposes a pontoon should be moored along the side of one of the steamers. Boats, with flags marked for competitors,' should be kept constantly plying to and from the starting hulk to the shore, and competitors should receive tickets giving all necessary information, includ ing the probable time that the races for which they are entered will be started. For a water-polo match in the open the posts as recommended in the chapter dealing with that game should be provided and tested before the day. As far as possible the course should be made scrupulously fair for all competitors, no matter which station at starting falls to their lot. In a narrow river or canal the course can be measured out, and a staging placed right across at either end, but care should be taken that, if spectators are admitted to these stages, they are secure, as otherwise serious accidents may possibly happen. Sometimes it is impossible, through lack of funds, to buoy out a course, and then the turning spots are marked by flags, but this system of racing is very often unsatisfactory, and wherever practicable the course should be plainly marked. For the benefit of the spectators and to assist the judges, every com petitor in open-water races should be compelled to wear a cap and university costume.