ISRM/IQL NATIONAL LIFEGUARD CHALLENGE

On Saturday 10th June 13 teams of Lifeguards gathered in Birmingham to pit their skills against each other in a closely fought battle for supremacy.

[ClickPress, Mon Jun 19 2006] On Saturday 10th June in searing heat at the Stechford Cascades pool in Birmingham, 13 teams of Lifeguards took part in closely fought battle for supremacy.

The teams were introduced to each other at the ‘Woodlands Adventure Camp’ (assault course venue), it was obvious from early on that competitiveness was high, with great cheers going up after each team was introduced followed by chants of ‘Who are ya?’ from the defending champions Birmingham, which were all taken in good spirit.

Consistent with their early confidence Birmingham City last years winners took an early lead in the first event ‘The Assault Course’. They emerged with a 45 second advantage over their next nearest rivals, they achieved this by a combination of aggressively attacking the course, superior teamwork and great support from colleagues.

Event 2 (First Aid Incident) took place in the Plant Room and centred around a simulated explosion that had caused an array of gruesome wounds (Courtesy of our 3 volunteer make-up artists), the incident was in general dealt with very well with the winning effort coming from a slick team from Hull Leisure.


The third event (Pool Incident) was convincingly won by DC Leisure’s Team ‘Pavilions in the Park’, who acted proactively and effectively to ensure the damage from any incidents was minimised. It was the source of some hilarity from the spectators, when Birmingham City were penalised for rescuing too many people – one young lad who was incidental to the incident was deemed to be a weak swimmer and was rescued ‘Bay Watch Style’ by a member of the Birmingham Team poor lad must have wondered what hit him.


The fourth event was the ‘Rescue Relay’ which for the first time was performed with adult casualties, this really was a crowd pleaser with supporters creating a deafening atmosphere cheering on their teams – the Lord Mayor who was seated next to me was a little surprised at the amount of enthusiasm in the room. Following a nail biting battle two teams came out on top Cariba Creek Water Park and Biddulph Valley Leisure centre who had a ‘dead heat’ (Excuse the pun).

The penultimate event was the ‘Individual Rescue Relay’, once again Biddulph Valley proved they had the strongest swimmers in the event by securing a convincing win.

With only one event to go (The Rope Throw Relay), Birmingham City were still leading by a significant margin and it seemed inevitable that the trophy would once again be going to the West Midlands, ‘Cardiff Dragons’ had obviously not read the script and spurred on by the ‘Red Dragon Man’ screaming encouragement for his team, they kept a cool head under pressure, made the least mistakes and secured an important victory.

There was a nervous wait for the final result, and the pressure was such that a recount was required – but finally the ‘Cardiff Dragons’ had their day and pipped Birmingham to the post by winning the last event, Biddulph Valley were a close third.

In Conclusion

A great day was had by all, Andy Ebben our compare for the day offered thanks to the many people behind the scenes including all form the ‘Organising Committee’, ISRM staff, IQL staff, Volunteers and Centre Staff, and Birmingham City Council for providing an excellent Venue.

A special thanks from ISRM and IQL to Pete Whittal (Event Manager) ISRM member and RLSS TA for his leadership in ensuring the event was a success. We hope to build on this success and make the event even better next year.

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