Medal success for Clare lifesavers

LOCAL lifesavers were among the medal-winning teams to return from Australia’s World Lifesaving Championships. A team of five women and six men representing their country returned home triumphantly, having won a number of medals and broken a world record in Adelaide. All the medallists, with the exception of one, were from Clare.

Competing as part of County Clare Water Safety were members of Ennis Lifesaving Club Norma Cahill, Dylan Barrett, Oisín McGrath and Colm Fitzgerald in the masters events and the national team. While 18-year-old Bernard Cahill, Norma’s son, and another member of the local club, competed in the youth events, which were introduced for the first time this year.

Speaking about their experiences in Australia, Norma said, “The standard over there was very high, this is what the Australians do. Their national title is one of the biggest in the world with regards to numbers participating. It’s their national sport,” she said.

As well as having home advantage, the Australians also benefit from their climate, she explained. “We’ve been doing a lot of training in the run-up to this competition.

“We’ve been training since last May but you can only really swim in the sea here until September. In Australia, they can train all year round in the sea and it makes a huge difference. That’s probably why myself and Bernard did better in the pool because we’ve been in the pool for the past month.

“Another difficulty was a lot of the events require craft, for instance boards, and because of the distance, we weren’t able to bring our own so we were relying on the pool of equipment that was out there.

“When you consider all the ups and downs, we did really well. It was really good to over there and take medals from the Australians.”

Norma took two golds in the competition for the obstacle race and 50m manikin tow and three bronze medals for the surf race, 100m manikin tow and 100m manikin carry. Her son Bernard returned to Clare having broken the world record and taken gold in the 100m rescue medley in the youths competition. He also came second in the 50m manikin tow and third in both the super lifesaver and surf race in his category.

In the seniors team, Dylan Barrett and team-mate David Butler from Dublin took gold in the line throw. Dylan is now the world and European champion in the line throw. He also came 13th in the iron man. Oisín McGrath won a silver in the 2km beach run and bronze in the board race. He was jointly awarded a bronze with Colm Fitzgerald in the board rescue competition. Colm also came second in the beach flags competition.

The lifesavers are now concentrating on the upcoming national championships in UL in February, swimming competitively to keep up fitness levels. Having received planning permission to build their own lifesaving centre in White Strand, they are currently raising funds for its development.

Norma encouraged others to get involved with lifesaving, explaining that children as young as eight can take part. “Anyone who sees us training on the White Strand over the summer can see what a fantastic experience it is. All of these kids are on the beach, hail, rain or snow and they are learning life skills. All of the events we do are simulated lifeguard experiences and although there is competing, it also makes you fitter to be a better lifeguard. A lot of the guys that competed for County Clare have all worked the beaches here, the standard of our lifeguards is fantastic.”

She said the activity is becoming more popular in Ireland, with Clare leading the way.

“A number of times in Australia we had Irish people now living over there come up to us and say they didn’t know we did this back in Ireland but it’s got so big here in the last four or five years and particularly in County Clare, we are pushing the standard here big time.”

The championships are held every two years, attracting competitors from over 40 countries around the world.

The championships involve five competitions (National Team, Interclub, Masters, Surf Boat and Inflatable ­Rescue Boat) and 10 ­disciplines (swimming, simulated emergency response, ironman/ironwomen, surf-ski, board, beach sprints, beach flags, surf boats and IRB). The competition is open to all proficient lifesavers, including masters.