Lifesaving Competitions
Competitions are fun and a real opportunity to improve lifesaving and swimming skills. They are great for building confidence in all ages, especially the young, giving them the ability to deal with first-aid lifesaving emergencies and opportunity to enjoy teamwork.
This club is building a reputation as a leading Club in the West. In 2013 two club members gained gold in their age groups to become National Champions. We aim to enter teams in 4 or 5 competitions a year. We aim to have one session a month as practice for competitions, for those who are interested.The usual format of Competition is based on 4 elements: 2 x Competition Incidents, and 2 x Speed events.
The purpose of the Incidents is to assess the initiative and judgement of a lifesaver applying lifesaving and first aid skills in a simulated emergency situation. A number of casualties trained in accident simulation present different problems necessitating different types of aid. The casualties may also be accompanied by resuscitation and rescue manikins, often with innocent bystanders to assist or possibly get in the way!
1. Dry Incidents: The team or individual enters an area, either indoors or outdoors where a mock incident has occurred. A team then has 2 minutes to prioritise the casualties, deal with the situation, performing first aid including resuscitation where necessary and delivering urgent information to facilitate early medical support. They are judged on their first aid performance, efficiency and teamwork.
2. Wet Incidents: The team or individual is led to the pool where another mock incident has been staged and casualties are based both in and out of the water. Again, both first aid and lifesaving skills are required to identify and treat the casualties and judged accordingly.
3. 12m distance line rope throw. (Or for under 15’s & over 50’s – 10m throw).
The thrower coils the line as fast as he/she can and throws to the catcher. An almost purely skills based event, the rope throw otherwise known as the line-throw is always a thrilling event to watch, as everyone hopes the rope will reach the target casualty first time. This is not as easy as it may seem under pressure! During the Line throw tow, the catching casualty must not kick their legs and must keep their head above the water. The thrower must do all the work and usually has a maximum of 2 minutes to get the casualty in.
4. 50m Swim plus a 50m Tow (Or for under 15’s & over 50’s it is a 25m swim and 25m tow). This is a straight speed event.
British University Lifesaving – BULSCA site. Bulsax, of course, compete in their Events in Bristol & Bath universities.