Crawley Town Life Saving Club "Bournemouth Regatta"

Crawley Town Life Saving Club had an enjoyable as well as very successful weekend's competition on the newly constructed sandy beaches of Bournemouth Durley Chine at the "Bournemouth Regatta" which is regarded as being the countries most complete all round competitive test of a Life Guard. The event which spans two days not only tests a competitor's fitness to the full but also his Life saving and first aid ability over the complete range of aquatic related disciplines. This year championships was run in a cold sea against a variable wind chop, which at times became almost gale force conditions making conditions far from easy

For the first time in a number of years Crawley entered a Cadet team (U18) comprising Sarah Cousins, Simmone Bristow, Vincent Stuart, Jonathan Rigby, Sam O'Connor and captained by Rory Hopcraft. The team's performance was at times outstanding; winning the Cadets Overall Championships, Sunday Speed and First Aid trophies. In addition Rory won the trophy for the longest line throw as well as the Saturday Iron man event, Sam and Simmone won their separate Saturday heptathlon events while Vincent and Sarah being captained by Jonathan won Saturdays three man lifesaving title. What makes this performance all the more pleasing is that the team will loose only two of its members to the senior competition next year.

The Crawley ladies team featuring Jo Blackwell, Dawn Lewis, Ruth Butler, Tina Dwyer, Charlotte Banks and Captain Abi Hoyle had similar success when they too won their Overall Championships, Sunday Incident, Marching and First Aid trophies. Individually Abi won the much converted silver salver for being the outright best incident captain covering all competing teams that weekend i.e. cadets, ladies and men's, Dawn won Saturdays Diamond Lady event and Abi captained Tina and Charlotte to victory in Saturday three lady lifesaving title.

Lastly the Crawley Men's team of Paddy Bogue, Nic Williams, David Butler, Alistair Reid, Matt Penny and Gary Lee had to settle for a runners up medal in the Men's Overall Championships, the Sunday Speed & March past trophies, possible due to being penalised on at least five occasions for basic errors arising from lack of concentration and their desire to win.

In addition to the traditional Regatta events competitors were also encouraged to race a number of the current ILS (International Life Saving) events during their Sunday lunch break. Always up for a challenge, Rory convincingly won both the Cadet Ski and board events an achievement immediately repeated by Alistair for the senior Men. These performances were supported by Gary who gained a 4th place in the Ski and Dave and Matt with a 5th and 10th place respectively in the board.

Crawley Town LSC will not be complacent with this overall performance and so will start preparing a new cadets team for next years Regatta which is going to be a little bit special as it will celebrate its 40th anniversary. So if you think you got what it takes to help Crawley Town stay a winner, please check us out at www.crawleytownlsc.co.uk or just come along and give it a try. Summer training for the club will be conducted at the South Water Country Park.