Long-Distance Endurance Swimming
American swimmers have made some wonderful strides in long-distance swimming and tests of endurance in the past few years, until now our records over distance and time immersions stand out prominently among the world’s greatest watermen.
Over the very long and tiresome routes our swimmers use various strokes, some of them relying on the breast stroke, others using the over-arm side stroke, but most of them stick to the double-over-arm stroke (sometimes called the Trudgeon), the latter method affording an opportunity for putting more continuous power to the stroke, which makes for greater speed; besides, this method makes the swimmer breathe regularly and with precision on each stroke and is useful in both rough and smooth water.
Space will not admit of recounting the numerous performances made by the various distance swimmers of this country, but all the leading record authorities and writers on swimming have agreed on Charles B. Durborow of Riverton, N. J., the big Philadelphia bank clerk, as the foremost long-distance and greatest mileage swimmer in the world.
Durborow is thirty-four years old (1916); weight, 210 pounds; height, 6 feet; swims the double-over-arm stroke, and has been swimming since 1907. He swims about 600 miles a year, and has covered over 5,000 miles in ten years. In his training, particularly before he begins his very long swims, he does a lot of rowing over long routes, and generally rows about 2,000 miles a year. He is the only swimmer who has ultimately conquered every swim he ever tried. He never takes any nourishment during a swim, and is always at his work the next day after a big feat, none the worse for wear.
Among the hundreds of big swims made by Durborow, the following record of ten of his greatest performances, some of which have never been equalled by another swimmer, stamp him as the leading distance swimmer in the world:
Thirty-four miles, 12 hours and 44 minutes, from Arch Street wharf, Philadelphia, to one mile below Market Street wharf, Chester, and return to Washington Avenue wharf, Philadelphia, Delaware River, July 10, 1910.
Ten miles, 7 hours and 59 minutes, from Flat Rock Dam to Conshohocken and return, Schuylkill River, July 24, 1910.
Twelve miles, 5 hours and 53 minutes, from the million-dollar pier, Atlantic City, N. J., across the mouth of Great Egg Harbor Bay, over the bar to the beach, at Tenth Street, Ocean City, N. J., in Atlantic Ocean, June 25, 1911.
Forty-two and forty-three-one-hundredths miles, 14 hours, 15 minutes and 31 seconds, from Cape May, N. J., across the mouth of Delaware Bay to Broadkill Shoals, Delaware, Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, July 1, 1912.
Thirteen miles, 8 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds, from the Charlestown Bridge to Boston Light, Boston Harbor, July 27, 1913.
Thirty-two and one-half miles, 12 hours and 52 minutes, from Walnut Street, Philadelphia, to one-eighth of a mile below Market Street, Chester, Pa., and return to Washington Avenue, Philadelphia, Delaware River, June 27, 1914.
Twenty-two miles, 8 hours and 46 minutes, from the Battery, New York City, to Sandy Hook Beacon, Sandy Hook, N. J., New York Harbor, July 19, 1914.
Twenty-six miles, 9 hours and 8 minutes, from Riverton, N. J., to Bristol, Pa., and return to Riverton, N. J., upper Delaware River, May 28, 1916.
Twenty-two miles, 8 hours and 42 minutes, from Cape Charles, Va., across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to Cape Henry, Va., Atlantic Ocean (swam outside the capes), June 23-24, 1916.
Thirty-six and one-half miles, 13 hours and 30 minutes, from Market Street, Chester, Pa., to Penn Treaty Park, Philadelphia, and return to Market Street, Chester, Pa., and then on the third tide to Eddystone, Pa., Delaware River, September 9-10, 1916.
OLGA DORFNER.
Philadelphia Turngemeinde; American Champion Sprint Swimmer and Record-holder.
CLAIRE GALLIGAN.
New Rochelle, N. Y.; American Champion Middle-Distance Swimmer and Record-holder.
1. Gertrude Artelt, P. T. G.; 2.. Helen Pennepacker, P. T. G.; Middle Atlantic champion diver; 3. Elizabeth Becker, P. T. G.; 4. Josephine Bartlett, Metropolitan champion diver.
A QUARTETTE OF FAST GIRL SWIMMERS AND DIVERS.
Left to right—Bessie Ryan, fast Philadelphia swimmer and frequent prize-winner; Florence McLoughlin, First Regiment (Philadelphia), America’s greatest juvenile swimmer; Anna C. Kean, Lansdowne, Pa., Ocean City to Atlantic City (in sea), 8h. 28m., and 26 miles, Delaware River, 11h. 8m. 41 2-5s.