Surf lifesavers gear up for national championships in Bay

Port Elizabeth will be flooded with lifesavers from across the country when the General Tire SA Lifesaving Championships start on Sunday.

With close to 2000 of the best surf lifesavers heading to the Bay, King’s Beach, as well as the Newton Park Swimming Pool, will welcome competitors across various divisions including nippers, juniors, seniors and masters as they vie for top honours in their respective events.

In 2018 1669 competitors from 41 national clubs competed in 528 events over an eight-day period with Marine Surf Lifesaving Club (KZN, Durban) claiming the first Overall Surf and Pool title across all the categories.  

The festivities get underway on Sunday morning with the masters' surf championships at King’s Beach on Sunday morning before the official event opening ceremony takes place later that afternoon.

Monday morning’s action starts with the Masters Pool Championships from 8 am until 2 pm followed by the junior and senior pool championships which get underway from 2 pm through to 6 pm.

The second and third days of the junior and senior championships will happen on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The final two days of competition at the Newton Park Pool will see the nipper pool championships taking place, as the future stars of surf lifesaving go head-to-head for gold.

King’s Beach will host the Nipper Championships over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thereafter, the junior and senior surf championships take place from Thursday ending on Saturday afternoon around 5pm.

In addition to all the action-packed beach and pool competitions, there will also be a General Tire Parents Flags Challenge will be held during the lunch break on Wednesday while the General Tire Surf Boat shootout is contested from March 28 to 30.

Lifesaving SA president Dylan Tommy commended the work done by Lifesaving Nelson Mandela Bay in putting together such a well run competition.

“I know it is a huge ask to put five of our national championships together into one event over one week, but the venue could not be better.

The Nelson Mandela Bay team has never let us down in the past and I know these championships will be as spectacular as those hosted to date,” he added.

“I wish all the competitors the best of luck, but would like to remind all competitors, young and old, that these championships act as a reward for your dedication to the lifesaving service we provide and that its primary aim is to improve your lifesaving skills.”

Nelson Mandela Bay Lifesaving chairman Earl Ingram said this year’s championships would be an improvement on last year’s.

“As usual King’s Beach Surf Lifesaving Club will be transforming the beach front into a world-class competition arena. Not to mention the entertainment line-up they have planned. Huge amounts of planning and hard work has gone into hosting this event.”