Clare dominate national lifesaving championships

COMPETITION was intense in the University of Limerick pool for the National Stillwater Lifesaving Championships last Saturday, where Ireland’s top lifeguards guaranteed exciting competition throughout the day.

Clare lifesavers won top place in the senior men’s and ladies’ competitions, as well as the junior boys’ and girls’ competitions. Clare’s B teams were runners-up in the senior men’s and junior girls’ sections and finished in third place in the senior ladies’ and junior boys’ events.

Nearly 200 of Ireland’s fittest lifesavers competed at the University of Limerick’s 50m pool complex. The annual competition gives the best lifesavers in Ireland an opportunity to compete in conditions that lifesavers can encounter in real-life rescue situations. Lifesaving teaches participants the skills necessary to rescue people in distress in water. The events are varied and challenging, with competitors swimming under immersed obstacles, rescuing casualties from the water and skilfully testing a variety of lifesaving skills in the process.

The national championships are part of Irish Water Safety’s extensive programme to promote water safety in Ireland with a particular focus on the necessary skills required by pool lifeguards nationwide. The championships encourage people to enrol in one of IWS’s many courses nationwide in the valuable skills of swimming, rescue and lifesaving. The event promotes the fitness and readiness for action of the lifesavers and demonstrates lifeguard water rescues to the public.

Results
Senior men: 1. Clare A (Dylan Barrett, Declan Bredin, Bernard Cahil, Colm Fitzgerald, Adam McEvoy); 2. Clare B (Adrian Cosgrove, Patrick Hogan, Oisín McGrath, Colm McNamara, Cormac O’Sullivan); 3. Waterford.
Senior ladies: 1. Clare A (Norma Cahill, Ciara Gleeson, Caoimhe Gowran, Sinéad Mortell, Ciara Sexton); 2. Kilkenny; 3. Clare B (Kate Brooks, Emly Ryan, Siobhán McGrath, Ciara Ryan).
Junior boys: 1. Clare A (Barry Clancy, Rory McEvoy, Hugh McMahon, Ryan Shannon); 2. Wexford A; 3. Clare B (Lorcan Casey, Nathan Coote, Darragh Gleeson, Eoin McNamara, Cian Murphy).
Junior girls: 1. Clare A ( Lily Barrett, Aoife Glavin, Rachel O’Brien, Emily Ryan, Katie Shannon); 2. Clare B (Aoife Deane, Odette Gleeson, Aoibhin Hogan, Emer McGrath, Niamh Sexton; 3. Wexford A and Donegal.
Masters: Kilkenny Masters.