Jimmy Donahue repeats as Run-Swim-Run champ

Shore Beach Service's 12th annual lifeguard competition started June 25th at the Coligny Beach. 2009 marked the ninth year that the competition was both an individual event and team event. Shore's five beach supervisors were the captains and drafted lifeguards for each team. Whether the competitors finished first, last, or anywhere in between, they earned points for the teams. Any finish first through fifth earned the competitors points for the individual competition.

Kjell Pederson led defending champs Palmetto Mafia into the competition in his seventh year as captain. Dan Condell captained team Spicoli for the ninth year.Jerry Staub directed the Sea Monkeys for the fourth time, hoping to improve on 2008's 3rd place finish. The Sand Devils had captain Justin Bubeck at the helm for the second year, while Mycal Rodenbeck led team Punisher for the first year.

2009 marked the first year that the competition was scheduled for 3 nights. In each event, men and women competed separately. The competition kicked-off with the Surf Swim--a 400-meter swim race. Team Punisher’s Cari Heckert & Kelli King raced to a close 1-2 finish, while Jimmy Donahue of the Sand Devils dominated the men's race for the second year.

Women's Beach Flag Final Heat

The second event of the night was the 2-K Beach Run. The women ran first, with Team Punisher’s girls again finishing 1-2, this time King beating Heckert. The men’s race had an unsurprising finish, with Team Spicoli’s Dan Gorman winning for the third consecutive year, with Scott Ohlson of the Sea Monkey’s taking 2nd place.

At the end of the first day, the Sea Monkeys held a slim lead, followed closely by Team Punisher, the Sand Devils, Team Spicoli, with defending champs Palmetto Mafia pulling up the rear.

The second night of competition started with the Run-Swim-Run which is a 200 meter run, followed by a 300 meter swim and finishing with another 200 meter run. Kelli King won her 2nd event of the competition, beating Chelsea Brett of the Sand Devils. Jimmy Donahue again crushed the field in the men's race, to make him the winner of both swim events.

The 100 Meter Dash followed. In the women’s dash, the Palmetto Mafia dominated, with Erica Burkheimer beating teammate Meghan Rooney. On the men’s side, the Mafia’s Chris Thoman dove to beat the Sea Monkey’s Matt Heinrich in a photo finish.

Men's Beach Flag Finalists

The final night of competition included preliminary heats and finals for Beach Flags. Beach Flags is always the most entertaining and spectator friendly event. The event starts with anywhere from 10 to 13 competitors in each heat, laying face down with their toes on the starting line, facing away from the “flags” (actually 1 foot lengths of garden hose) that are evenly spaced 60 feet away. There is always one less flag than there are competitors in each round. When the starter's whistle blows, participants hop up, turn, and sprint to grab a flag, usually ending with several competitors diving for the last flag. Like the game “Musical Chairs”, the person that does not get a flag is eliminated. The process continues round by round until only the winner is left.

A crowd gathered to watch as the preliminaries trimmed the field down from 72 competitors to 24 finalists, 12 men and 12 women. With only the best women and men advancing from the prelims, the finals are always intense. Rodebeck’s Team Punisher had the most finalists survive with nine, followed by Palmetto Mafia with 6, Spicoli with four, Sea Monkeys with 3 and the Sand Devils with only two survivors. As the 12 women's finalists were pared down, rookie guard Lynne Staples was steady throughout, leaving her and Punisher teammate Ellyce Lippert as the final two. In the final heat, Staples dove and barely grabbed the flag, leaving Lippert runner-up for the second straight year. The men's finals were extremely physical as always. The last pair was Grant Sasse versus Matt Heinrich, the youngest guard on staff. Both men dove for the flag, and when the sand settled, Heinrich came up with the flag to win.

When the points were finally tallied, Palmetto Mafia gave Kjell Pederson his second consecutive win. Team Punisher finished a close second, followed by the Sea Monkeys, Spicoli, and the Sand Devils. After a year away from competition, Kelli King became the Women's Overall Champion for the second time. The Men's Champion was settled in the beach flags, with Dan Gorman getting his last point by beating Jimmy Donahue by one place in Beach Flags to take the overall championship.

2009 Team Champs - Palmetto Mafia
Team Competition Results 2008
PLACE	TEAM	CAPTAIN	POINTS
1		Kjell Pederson	1543
2		Mycal Rodenbeck	1499
3		Jerry Staub	1417
4		Dan Condell	1396
5		Justin Bubeck	1334

Women's Overall Champions 2009 Kelli King 2008 Meghan King 2007 Cari Heckert 2006 Lauren Buck, Kelli King, Meghan King 2005 Kelli King 2004 Elise Thornell 2003 Hannah Fraser 2002 Linda Spencer 2001 Hannah Fraser 2000 Claire Halloran 1999 Erin Ferrell 1998 Janci Smith	Men's Overall Champions 2009 Dan Gorman 2008 Dan Gorman 2007 Justin Carver 2006 Justin Carver, Charlie Knapper, Andy Motlis 2005 Justin Carver 2004 Justin Carver 2003 Garrett Kelly 2002 Brad Jones 2001 Mike Dull 2000 Sean Connolly 1999 Travis Gay 1998 Dan Condell
Women's Overall Champ Kelli King	Men's Overall Champ Dan Gorman

Chris Thoman receives the baton in the 4x100 Meter Relay

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina hosted the 2009 South Atlantic Lifesaving Association Competition, held July 15th and 16th. A record 251 lifeguards representing 14 agencies from Virginia Beach down the east coast to Ponte Vedra, Florida competed in the event. Shore Beach Service sent a team of 18, determined by the individual points in Shore’s competition.

The SALA Competition is divided into age groups. Most lifeguards compete in the “open” division, which is open for all competitors. Age groups start at age 30, and go in 5-year increments up to the 60 and over division. All of Shore’s women and most of the men competed in the open division. Points are earned by finishing in the top ten in the open division, and top five in the age groups, while medals are won with a top five finish in the open, and top three in the age groups.

The team competition is broken into agencies with 50 or more employees (“A” Division) and under 50 employees (“B” Division). Shore’s 2009 team earned points in 11 events, winning 6 medals along the way. As a team, they finished with 51 points to earn 6th place in the “A” Division. Jacksonville Beach, Florida won the “A” division while Corolla Beach, North Carolina won the “B” Division.

Dan Gorman wins the 2K Beach Run

The 2K Beach Run was Shore’s best event. Dan Gorman defended his title, taking 1st on the men’s side, finishing the 1.2 mile race in a blazing 5 minutes, 32 seconds. Kelli King and Chelsea Brett raced to 5th and 10th respectively in the women’s run.

Shore earned two more medals in the 4 X100 Meter Dash. The men’s team of Gorman, Chris Thoman, Grant Sasse and Matt Heinrich raced to win 2nd place medals, with Thoman falling across the finish line to beat Carolina Beach by a nose. Meanwhile, the women’s team of Ellyce Lippert, Lindsay Calkins, Lynne Staples and Erica Burkheimer overcame a fall in the prelims to win 5th place medals in the women’s race.

Shore other medals were won in the age groups, with Dan Condell taking 3rd place in the age 30-34 Surf Swim and Ralph Wagner earning 3rd place in 60+ Beach Flags.

Shore also earned points in the Swim Rescue Race, where a “victim,” swims approximately 120 meters to a designated buoy, signals, and waits to be rescued by the “rescue swimmer”. As they return to shore, two remaining rescuers enter the water to assist carrying the victim across the finish line. Shore men’s team of Donahue (swimmer), Condell (victim), Okapal and Sasse (rescuers) and women’s team of Brett(swimmer), King(victim), Burkheimer and Staples (rescuers) both took 6th place.

Other points were won in Landline Pull, where a “victim” is placed at the designated buoy approximately 120 meters out. At the start a “rescue swimmer” swims to the victim. When the swimmer reaches the victim, the swimmer raises one arm in the air and the landline pullers start pulling the rescue swimmer and victim to shore. Hilton Head’s team of Donahue (swimmer), Calkins (victim), Okapal and Sasse (landline pullers) finished 10th. Click here to see a video of their preliminary round performance.

2009 South Atlantic Lifesaving Association Competition
Shore Beach Service Team Roster

Team Hilton Head

Women's 5th place 4x100 team	Men's 2nd place 4x100 team