Lifesaving has become not only a life saving technique but has turned into a sport where elite athletes compete in all the areas required in actual lifesaving situations.
Recently, five clubs brought 80 junior and senior participants, ages 7 – 60, to the Lifesaving Carnival held at Port Elgin Beach last week (Aug. 19th).
Instructor and coach Michael Hundt explained, “Even though the athletes have been training hard throughout the pandemic, we haven’t had competitions since 2019 because of COVID, so this is more of a fun event to shake the cobwebs off.”
The teams came from Mississauga, Wasaga, Guelph, Georgina and Saugeen Shores for the friendly competition in the waters of Lake Huron.
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On September 18th (2022), three athletes from Saugeen Shores Lifesaving Club (SSLC), Aurora Jacobi, 17 years old, Jie-Lynn Barrett, 17 and Eithan Alpaugh, 16, will be travelling to Riccione, Italy to compete in the Worlds Lifesaving Championships.
Eithan Alpaugh said, “I am a little nervous because I’ve never swum in the ocean before and that’s a prerequisite in the World’s. I’m sure the waves are going to be a lot bigger than our Lake Huron.”
There is a significant financial commitment for each of the athletes for which they are completely responsible and the cost is approximately $4,500 each. Like most Canadian athletes, they have to fundraise in order to represent Canada and their communities in world events and the athletes came up with a unique concept – ‘Flocked by Flamingos‘ which has also turned out to be a fun FUNdraiser. The FUNdraiser will continue until it’s almost time to leave.
