Fantastic 4 victorious at Langley Lifeguard Competition

The Fantastic 4 proved they were just that after winning the 15th annual Langley Lifeguard Competition, held this past Saturday at the Walnut Grove Community Centre.

Events included priority action, fitness, first aid, and pool simulations.

Each team had to have at least one male and one female in a contingent of four and each competitor was required to have a valid National Lifeguard award.

The top three teams were:

1st – Fantastic 4 (Surrey)

2nd – Extreme Caution (Victoria)

3rd  – Heart Stoppers (Victoria)

A team of four rookies from Langley (who all work at Walnut Grove Community Center) took second place in the rookie division.

“They’re just starting out, but are well on their way to becoming a top team in years to come,” event organizer Ryan Radford said. “ They’re really representing Langley well.”

The Langley team, called Totally Oblivious Lifeguards (or TOL) included captain Kelsey Hum, Lauren Mckimm, Jeremy Barichello, and Keenan Beavis.

The experience for all us was definitely exciting,” Hum said. â€œIt was our second time competing at the Langley competition and we were very determined to place better than we did last time. Although we did not achieve the outcome we were aiming for, we were still proud of our results and we will always look for ways to improve.”

The events TOL competed in were individual first aid, PAA (Priority Action), Barnsley Fitness relay, team first aid, and guarding simulations.

Hum said the individual first aid event was her toughest challenge: “I prefer working as a team as most lifeguards do. It can sometimes be extremely nerve-wracking working on your own and it can be difficult to remember absolutely everything. I also find it hard because I sometimes rush through everything I know and I often miss something small but very important.”