Eastbourne Voluntary Lifeguards

A big weekend just past for Eastbourne Voluntaries. We sent a team across to the west coast not really knowing what could be achieved… but with a with Gold and Bronze in the 2km Beach run and a fifth in the beach relay and good finishes in the Beach Flags EVL finished 11th in the Mens competition out of 23 clubs.

The day started in the water arena with the Surf race – That was my event… well I finished – lets not talk too much about that – only that I wish I knew before hand that all the other competitors would be wearing wetsuits! Garry was next for the Ski race – nerves gave Garry an unsteady start, but he quickly made back ground coming 14th in his heat. Fog then stopped the water events for a short while.

The Beach events began with the mens beach flags – Marcus, Rich and Jack competed in this event all making it through the first few heats, with a shaky start from Jack who had to have a run off with a fellow competitor after both grabbing the same flag. Speed was on Jacks side and he progressed to the next heat. Marcus and Rich were then beaten to the flags leaving just Jack to compete in the finals. The finals had some very Quick competitors and Jack was eliminated after the second round – but it was some very existing racing!

Back to the water arena Matt and Barry competed in the rescue tube race, by this time the tide had come in a long way and the swim was looking like a good 300m. Matt was off to a quick start and the swimming fast paced, all the competitors started to drift south with the current but unfortunately Matt corrected his course a little late… Once Matt was at the cans it was then Barry’s turn to retrieve Matt. Again Barry was quick off the beach and again the current took all the competitors south, both started back on the long swim – but the two of them could not catch the rest of the field.

Day two started on the beach with the relay. The run order was Matt, Garry, Rich then Jack – all were not really expecting much and the aim was just to have fun and not to drop the batten. Well – what a race! second in the heat! through to the finals! The only problem was that they didn’t take it easy and cruise through to the finals like the experienced teams so instead had 10 minutes to recover to try for a medal. The final was very close & the 3rd, 4th and 5th were very closely contested…. EVL missed out on the 3rd & 4th and got the 5th – but still valuable points for the team and a very exited team.

Finally the 2km run – James W and Rich (straight from the relay) were in this event. The start was quick and a large park headed off into the distance. After a 1/2 kilometer James and Rich were in the lead closely followed by a Perranporth competitor very close behind. At the 1 km mark the Perranporth competitor started to move in to second pushing Rich back to 3rd. The last km saw James stretch the lead taking Gold and the National 2km Beach run title! Rich took the bronze! What can I say a great end to a weekend!!!

It was a great competition very well run and the other clubs were great very friendly & some tremendous athletes! Looking forward to next year!!