Keynsham
  Lifesaving Club

Following our success in the Bath University lifesaving competition (held in November last year), our club was keen to enter another competitive event. On the 16th Feb we got our chance when Keynsham lifesaving club entered a team in the Birmingham Uni Lifesaving Competition.

This time we were able to field a full team exclusively from KLSC, with no need to "borrow" team members from other clubs to make up the numbers. Between us, the team had a real mix of experience: over the years I've attended more than 40 lifesaving competitions; this was Rebecca's second competition; whilst Lauren and Cam were enjoying their first experience of competitive lifesaving.

After meeting at the university sports centre we registered our team and got changed. We were due to be the last team to tackle the incident, but thankfully the competition manager generously agreed to let us go second instead. This reduced the time we spent in isolation and gave us the opportunity to watch some of the more experienced teams in action.

The first event was the land-based incident which was set in a disabled bathroom. The team captain was split away from the rest of the team, and sent into the incident alone. As soon as the incident started, my cries of "Help!" brought the team running to assist. We found two unconscious casualties sat against the wall suffering from the effects of a drug overdose. On opening the shower curtain in the corner of the room I discovered a third casualty who lunged towards me whilst projectile "vomiting" vegetable soup! Luckily I was able to step back and avoid the worst of his efforts, before quickly handing this casualty over to Cam to subdue!

Meanwhile, the rest of the team turned their attention to our top priority: the two unconscious casualties. Rebecca's casualty was breathing so we worked together to slide him to the floor and Rebecca put him in the recover position. Lauren's casualty had a black cross on his forehead (Signifying that he wasn't breathing) but we ran out of time before we could start CPR.

With the dry incident out of the way we were immediately ushered into the wet incident. This time the scenario was set at a fishing competition and featured numerous casualties based on all sides of the pool. After assessing our priorities I dispatched Lauren to rescue two locked swimmers using an empty water drum as an aid. Meanwhile Rebecca used a fishing rod to help a non-swimmer to safety, whilst Cam ensured the safety of a bystander and assisted an unconscious casualty on the pool side. Landing all the casualties on the same side of the pool made it much easier to provide aftercare. Although we were a bit slower than some of the more experienced teams we picked up plenty of marks for ensuring our own safety, and communicating well.

Once the other teams had tackled the wet incident, the judges set the pool up for the rope-throw relay. In RLSS competitions under 16s are only required to throw 10m, but because this was a university event our whole team had to throw 12m. I was throwing first, and managed to rescue Cam on my first attempt. Cam's first throw fell just short of Lauren's outstretched fingers. Undeterred, Cam threw tried again and again, but despite her excellent technique she was unable to rescue Lauren. Some throws fell inches too short and others made the distance but landed outside our lane. All too soon our time was up, but everyone agreed that Cam had done brilliantly - she kept her head under pressure and with a bit more practice we've surely got a champion rope-thrower in the making!

The next event was the swim and tow relay. Cam's experience of swimming galas paid off - she got a great start and dived cleanly out of the blocks. After a superb swim and tow she finished the first leg ahead of two university teams! Lauren kicked off the wall and swam faster than I've ever seen her swim before - picking up Rebecca and maintaining her speed throughout the return leg. Before I knew it, Rebecca had swum 50m too and was approaching the wall to tow me for 50m. After a smooth pickup she accelerated away and we were off down the pool like a rocket! Our rookie team was no match for the powerful strokes of the university teams, but we weren't going to give in without a fight. Despite racing over 600m our team was only half a length behind, and it was up to me to make up the difference. I felt comfortable on my swim and was confident that with Cam as my casualty we could make up ground.  I touched the turning edge and swapped towing hands so I could watch the rest of the pool. I could see I was catching the Birmingham C Team in Lane 1, but with barely 20m to go I didn't have much time to catch them up. I dug deep and with a final lunge for the finish I hit the wall just 3 seconds ahead.

After the swim and tow was the medley relay - an event that was new to everyone except me. Cam started off by diving in and swimming 50m free-style, then Lauren swam 50m with fins from a diving start. Lauren put her scuba diving experience to good use, covering most of the distance underwater. Next Rebecca swam 50m towing a torpedo buoy, before passing the strap to me so I could tow her 50m whilst wearing fins. We may have finished last in our heat, but because we avoided picking up any time penalties we finished 24th in this event overall.

The penultimate event was an obstacle relay - each team member had to swim 2 lengths, diving under a 70cm deep "gate" on each length. We kept the running order the same as the swim and tow, with Cam's explosive dive giving us a great start. Cam, Rebecca and Lauren all passed smoothly under the gates, putting some of the experienced teams to shame. Despite losing my goggles on the last length we still managed to finish this race in 22nd place.

With a bit of time left until the pool closed the organisers decided to hold a "boat race" just for fun (!). The team lined up in the water, one behind the other. On the starter's signal we raced down the pool together, each towing the person behind us in a long-arm tow. In the ensuing chaos it was hard to tell who finished first, but I'm fairly sure we weren't last...!

Overall Keynsham Lifesaving Club had an amazing day. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I've lost count of the people who came up to congratulate the team on our superb performance against older and more experienced teams.

As you can see from the results table, we didn't come last in any event. Overall we finished in 26th place, beating the Birmingham D team by 10 points, and only three points behind the Warwick C team. Well done Keynsham!