SWIMMING - Old cup given to motivate

The gift of a 70-year-old swimming trophy may provide the motivation for the Whangarei Swimming Club to reintroduce an open water swim to their annual programme.
On Thursday, 89-year-old Jim Locke donated the 1937 Waitemata Harbour Cup to the Whangarei Swimming Club and club officials say they will consider the possibility of using the trophy as a prize for an open-water race.
Locke presented the trophy to the club's representative, Dorian "Skip" Peyman , who is a supporter of adding an open water swim to the club's annual programme.
"We used to have a harbour swim every year but it stopped more than 10 years ago, maybe this cup will bring it back," Peyman said.
Locke was unconcerned as to what the club decided to do with it, saying he had donated the cup so it could again act as motivation for young swimmers - just as it had when he won the cup all those years ago.
"It doesn't really matter what (event) it is for, I'd prefer a distance swim but as long as the young people get fit for it, that'd be enough," he said.
He was a fit, young 19-year-old, when he was presented the cup by the mayor of Newmarket, one JA Mason, some 70 years ago.
The event was a rough and ready, 1-mile swim across Waitemata Harbour.
"There were no escorts in those days, no boats, but I can't remember anyone ever getting into trouble," Locke said.
There were no buoys marking the route either and Locke and his fellow competitors had to use landmarks to navigate by.
"We always thought about sharks, of course, as there were rumoured to be sharks at Hobson's Bay."
A race handicap system was used in the race but the competitors didn't know their handicap until the race was finished.
"All the crackerjack swimmers of the time were there so I wasn't expecting to win ... it wasn't until my friend popped his head over the fence of the changing sheds and told me he thought I might have won it that I had any idea I'd won," he said.
It was a big achievement and one he's valued every since.
"Everyone wanted to win it because had a lid you see, there were lots of other cups but not all of them had lids," he laughed.
Locke went on to other swimming successes but the Waitemata Harbour Cup remains the highlight.
He started swimming to prove a point to his dad and quickly became devoted to the sport. He was also a longtime surf lifesaver at Karekare Beach, south of Piha, and taught his children and grandchildren to swim at an early age.
After moving to Whangarei, Locke also played a part in designing the city's first 50m Olympic pool, completed in 1965.
The former engineer was still a keen ocean swimmer until two years ago, he now devotes more time to his oil-painting, a hobby he began in his early 70s.