[Lifesaving] London Universities' Competition 2012

It’s time for another lifesaving competition report.  Yesterday saw the London Universities’ competition, held at the University of London Union (ULU). This is always a slightly odd event, and doesn’t start until the afternoon owing to the BULSCA Rules Meeting that takes place in the morning, at the same venue. It’s usually a great competition though, and in the last couple of years has seen success for St Andrews, with a Bronze medal two years ago followed by a Silver last year. We weren’t aiming for medals this year, but I was confident that we could get a strong result.

The Seacows team for London Competition. (Credit: David Brown)

There were only five of us this time around, and my team consisted of myself, the club Captain (who’s been a reliable A-team member for the past three years), one of my team from Bristol, and another second year lifesaver. We were almost the opposite of the Bristol team in some ways, with three very tall guys and one rather small lady!

Just for a change we were early on in the SERC draw, and were third out. In previous competition reports I may have complained a lot about being in isolation for a long time, but I’d far rather do that then be out early on. With an early draw you have to sit through lots of wet incidents, and I spend most of that time analysing what my team did wrong, and how the other teams are better than our effort. It’s also harder to read on poolside than in isolation! In this case though I wasn’t too bothered, as isolation was incredibly cramped.

The room for isolation was slightly on the small side, particularly with all of

the chairs and tables cluttering up the place! (Credit: David Brown)

The dry SERC setting was a mountain trail. We were out hiking, and heard shouts for help. On entering we saw an unconscious manikin with a rope tied around its ‘waist’, a casualty with a breathing difficulty, and a third casualty with an open fracture (and a wound in her back that we didn’t find). There was also a tent containing sleeping bags, a bag with a mobile phone (no reception) and some painkillers, and some empty bottles of wine around the place. After thoroughly checking the area for hidden tricks I sent two of my team out of the incident to get help, which we’d been told was an hour away. That left my remaining lifesaver to carry on with CPR, whilst I got on with some bandaging. I didn’t get very far, but on the whole it felt like a good incident and was certainly a bit different.

The wet on the other hand felt like a disaster, and was very difficult. On entering the pool, which was supposed to be a lake with a triathlon in progress, we found a diabetic on poolside, locked swimmers nearby, a weak swimmer at the far end, a non-swimmer in mid pool, and an injured person at the far end in the stewarding area. We got treatment for the diabetic straight away, but were slow on the rescues owing to the rubbish aids that were available. Once the body board was pointed out to me we progressed a little better, and got most of the swimmers rescued. However we didn’t make it to the far end, where there was a radio and someone having a heart attack that I hadn’t seen. In hindsight I should have got my team to take the casualties to the far end, and swum down myself to take charge from there. Ah well.

The wet SERC in progress for one of Southampton's teams. (Credit: David Brown)

The rope throw was interesting than usual, and the cause of several emotional swings. We were in the slowest heat, but with the team that we had I was confident of a good showing. We managed to pull in all four casualties, even with misses from some of the team, and in a good time as well (throwing to someone with long arms did wonders for Hanna’s throw!). Then we were told that had two penalties for casualties not having their hands together on the rope, which was really deflating. However, a couple of people suggested that we might have been impeded, which would have allowed us a re-throw. After checking with my team I talked to the head referee, but without knowing all the details and with no judge to back me up, I couldn’t persuade him that we deserved one.

By then we’d been thinking about our penalties some more, and weren’t convinced that they were fair. I’ve always taught and been taught to have two hands together on the rope, but checking the rules showed that they merely said ‘arms fully extended’. Other teams had been penalised for the same thing as well, and London B and we decided to lodge an appeal. This meant paying £25, and filling in the appeals form. Of which the referee had none. So we had to get the competition organiser to print one off. There’s a strict 30 minute window on appeals under BULSCA rules, which we only just made.

Another wet SERC in progress. This time it's Loughborough A. (Credit: David Brown)

While all of this was going on we also had to swim in the two relays! There were only three heats at London, so the turn-around was very quick, and we didn’t have much time. But it certainly took my mind off my tiredness from the medley relay, which went ok. We finished middle of our heat I think, which wasn’t too bad; we were near the front after the first two swimmers, but leg 3 was our girl who isn’t the fastest. The 33m pool didn’t help either.

The swim-tow, in contrast, was a brilliantly dominant performance in our heat. We led from the start, and were never headed. I was starting for the second time this season, and took the swim at a reasonable pace. Turning in second, I got a much better push off than the leader and picked up my casualty with a clear lead. By the end of my tow lengths we were a good 10m ahead, and great swims by the rest of the team meant that we kept that lead through swimmers 2 and 3, and were only closed down by Oxbridge’s last swimmer who was mightily quick. So we won a heat! I think that’s the first time the Seacows have won a swim-tow heat or speed event heat ever!

Our final swimmer starts their leg of the swim-tow. No one else was in sight. (Credit: David Brown)

Our jubilant mood was further lifted by the results of our appeal after the heats were done. Our penalties, and those of London, were overturned, giving us back our full rescue in the rope throw. It was partly on a technicality, but we were so happy.

After changing and eating some much needed food (pizza again. I’m really getting sick of pizza), it was time for results. We were on the edge of our seats, particularly as the accent of the announcer meant that every mention of Southampton sounded like it was going to be us! In the end we came 5^th overall, which was fantastic. Looking at the detailed results revealed that we’d only got bumped to 5^th on tiebreaker, having drawn with London A. They won the wet SERC, which gave them the nod, but we’d won the dry SERC (thanks my team’s phone call and my decision to send two people), and come second in the rope throw. We’d even come inside the top half in the swim-tow!

Hamish, our team mascot, guards our kit on poolside. (Credit: David Brown)

Obviously it was a great result, and I’m incredibly proud of the team for achieving it. Roll on Warwick in 2013; I can’t wait.