Rehoboth 2012

Written by:

Michael Branca

Each year Ocean certified lifeguards from the Mid-Atlantic States compete in a Regional Lifesaving Tournament. The Rehoboth Beach Patrol hosted this year’s event, on Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

The United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) sanctions tournaments like these to promote the advancement of lifeguarding techniques, encourage camaraderie amongst lifesaving professionals and to educate the public regarding beach safety.

Teams from New York to Virginia entered over 250 athletes, ranging in age from 16 to 53. Smith Point entered 28 of its lifeguards in this year’s highly competitive event. Each team competed in men’s and women’s division in eight events, which included a distance swim, distance run, surf rescue, rescue board race, run-swim-run, landline, 4 x 100 yard sprint and much anticipated beach flags.

When the competition was over, Smith Point had several top finishers and boasted 4 Regional Champions. In the second event of the day, the women’s open 2K run, Smith Point had 3 top 10 finishers with rookie Nicole LoMeli, Cassandra Dooley and an overall winner Courtney Dooley. The ladies continued their winning ways in the open distance swim when Kristen Purdy earned top honors, and again in the swimmers’ rescue race, when Kristen and her sister, Dana Purdycombined to earn the Gold.

The men also had some strong finishes by Christian Roarke who earned the bronze in the beach flags, and by Tom Daly, who finished seventh in the men’s 2K run. The most impressive performance of the day was in the men’s senior division 2K, when Michael Branca beat the competition to earn the title of the Regional Champion.

For more pictures, please click here.

July 21, 2012

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