REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - The United States Lifesaving Association’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships came to Rehoboth Beach on July 9. The event drew in large crowds.
Lifeguards across the East Coast competed in dozens of events, such as 90-meter sprint, 2K beach run, 400-meter surf swim, swimmer rescue race, landline rescue race, paddleboard rescue race and more in order to qualify for the national competition.Â
When asked about the event, Davis Malt from the Dewey Beach Patrol talked about how this was his first year doing the competition and the excitement he felt.Â
"Really looking forward to just having fun with everyone and, you know, getting a different experience for competition life because, I mean, I, like I said, this is my first time doing this exact competition. So, I mean, I'm just excited to get out there." said Malt.Â
The lifeguards said that there is a lot of training that goes into competing for the qualifiers. Hailey Moore, Amy Venables, Rachel Kline and Jessica Tyndall from the Delaware State Patrol all talked about the effort they undergo before the competition.Â
"Like a lot of handoffs. That's like a big thing. Yeah. Start it. Like start starts is a big thing. A lot of technical work. We'll do sprint workouts like every Saturday," said the championship relay team. "They do like a what the SLA training like we usually gather every Saturday and we do a training, just to make sure that all the teams are ready for regionals and nationals get our endurance up because we have to do like the semis and the finals."Â
In 2023, the SCLA earned second place at the USLA National Lifeguard Championships in Virginia Beach. The national competition will be held in Huntington State Beach, California on Aug. 6-9.Â
