Margate Wins South Jersey Lifeguard Championship
Ocean City hosted the regional showdown on the beach at 34th Street on Sunday, Aug. 12.
Photos
With a first place and second place in the two rowing events, the Margate Beach Patrol recaptured the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship from Ocean City on Sunday night on the beach at 34th Street.
Ocean City earned the right to host the "Jerseys" by winning last summer in Margate, the 2010 champion.
Several hundred people lined the beach between 32nd and 34th streets on Aug. 12 to watch 15 beach patrols compete in a 1.5-mile doubles row, a three-quarter-mile swim and a quarter-mile singles row.
Three Absecon Island patrols took the top three spots in doubles: Ventnor, Margate and Longport. A first-place finish by Ventnor's David Funk and Mike Tripician broke a tie in the overall standings and gave the patrol second place over Ocean City.
Ocean City's Dylan Kosten and Matt Garbutt finished in fourth place.
Ocean City's top swimmer, Graham Parker, was a last-minute scratch with a sinus infection, and Erin Curry filled in, capturing seventh place in the male-dominated competition. Curry had swept all the women's competitions this summer.
North Wildwood's Sean Regan won the swim.
Dylan Kosten returned from the doubles row to compete for Ocean City in the singles and finished second, but Margate's Chuck Gowdy sealed the overall title with a victory.
Team Point Standings
- Margate: 11
- Ventnor: 6 (wins tiebreaker with better finish in doubles row)
- Ocean City: 6
- North Wildwood: 5
- Longport: 4
Doubles Row
- Ventnor: David Funk and Mike Tripician
- Margate: Chris Graves and Bob Bechtel
- Longport: Sean Duffey and Mike McGrath
- Ocean City: Dylan Kosten and Matt Garbutt
- Sea Isle City
Swim
- North Wildwood: Sean Regan
- Stone Harbor: Sean McCall
- Sea Isle City: Blake Trabuchi-Downey
- Margate: Patrick Flynn
- Longport: Bobby Ballance
Singles Row
- Margate: Chuck Gowdy
- Ocean City: Dylan Kosten
- Atlantic City: Joseph Welsh
- Upper Township
- Ventnor
Colleen Schroeder
8:54 am on Monday, August 13, 2012
I'm so impressed to see a woman fill in for the sick swimmer. Way to go with 7th place!!!
Michael Hamilton
12:51 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
Congratulations to Erin Curry of the OCBP who represented had a fine effort in the SJ swim,(a first for the OCBP) after the last minute call up by Coach Tom.
Also, major congratulations to former OCBP guard Kim McKay and her performance at the "United States Lifeguard Association National Championships" held this past week in Cape May. Kim had 3-first place finishes, a second, and two thirds in events testing true lifeguard skills. Incredibly, this same individual, a veteran guard/competitor for the Ocean City Beach Patrol, was not selected by Director Mullineaux to return to work for the Ocean City Beach Patrol in 2012. That would be Mullineaux, who has in addition to being found guilty of ethics violations, managed to loose "USLA Certification" for the Patrol and the City, currently and for the last several years.
Maybe the self-appointed OCBP Historian Fred Miller, can elaborate on that scenario.
CTA
7:04 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
NOt to take anything away from those lifeguards that do these events in South Jersey, but, just what connection is there with actuall lifeguarding is there with rowing straight out to sea for a half mile and then back? If a lifeguard actually had to do that in a real resque many questions would be asked. Ocean County and USLA events actually test 'real world' lifeguard skills. And besides those events are much more spectator friendly , which means they draw crowds of vacation folks to the beach in the evening to watch. As the south jersey events run, only friends of guards and their familes show up to watch.......
still workin' the beach since '62
Michael Hamilton
12:50 pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Good points and I agree. USLA events could be held at OC boardwalk beaches, that would be exciting and spectator friendly.Once Mullineaux is gone, maybe the City will be able to get USLA certification back and at some point, conduct the Nationals if Cape May is willing to give that event up.The Jerseys will always be a prime event for the competitors (old-school tradition) but the National USLA events are more relevant tests of guard skills.Just ask Fred.