In keeping with the current weather conditions, summer at the Jersey Shore will really be heating up this week with the start of the lifeguard race season.
This weekend marks the 105th anniversary of the first race, when Atlantic City Beach Patrol chief Charles Bossert created a doubles row competition involving crews from Cape May, Wildwood and Atlantic City.
Margate’s Lucy the Elephant was still a baby pachyderm when Atlantic City’s Fred Estergren and Owen Kertland rowed to victory in that inaugural event in 1919.
Thus began a tradition that has become as much a part of the local beach scene as strolling the Ocean City Boardwalk, building sand castles at low tide and watching waves wash them away, rubbing wet sand to ease the sting of a jellyfish, and seeing Rob Kelly surf beneath Fourth of July Fireworks.
The new lifeguard racing season begins in earnest on Friday, when the Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol hosts the Cape May County Lifeguard Championships and Atlantic County crews gather at the Captain Michael D. McGrath Longport Memorials.
Actually, the lifeguard racing season has already started. The eighth Diamond Beach Lifeguard Invitational was held last week, with the host patrol edging Upper Township for the team title on a double tiebreaker.
Some of the area’s top female lifeguards were scheduled to compete in the Longport Women’s Invitational Race on Tuesday.
One of the area’s most unique races will again be held in Cape May next Monday, July 13, when the 44th Buzz Mogck Memorial Cape May SuperAthalon takes place.
Competitors from beach patrols from Cape May Point to Long Beach Island engage in a triathlon-style race that features a 2.3-mile run along the Promenade/Boardwalk, a 1.5-mile row and a quarter-mile swim.
The South Jersey Lifeguard Chiefs Association’s schedule is packed with events over the next two months, topped by the “Big Three” – the Dutch Hoffman Memorials in Wildwood on July 31, the Margate Memorials on Aug. 7 and the 105th South Jersey Championships in Avalon on Aug. 14.
Avalon earned the right to host the event after winning the team title for the second straight time last summer.
The races are among the area’s most exciting events. Large crowds line the beaches to cheer for their favorite patrols.
No summer would be complete without hearing the chant of “Sea. … Isle. … Sea. … Isle” above the crashing waves or seeing lifeguards rush into the water to greet the winners of the doubles and singles rows, then hoisting the boats above their heads to escort them to the beach.
Many host patrols also place their own, unique spin on the events.
The Cape May County Championship are known for variety. Wildwood Crest does its best to incorporate the various skills used by lifeguards into the competition.
In addition to the traditional swims and rows, there is also paddleboard/rescue board races. The highlight, however, comes at the end, when the teams gather for the men’s and women’s surf dash relays.
Fans line up 10 deep on either side of the course to form a human chute while four-person teams sprint into the ocean, high-knee or porpoise dive to a waist-high buoy, reverse course and tag a teammate before collapsing on the sand.
North Wildwood has won the men’s division four years in a row.
The Cape May County and Dutch Hoffman’s are among the events that deserve a ton of credit for including women’s races.
Two-thirds of the “Big Three” – the Margate Memorials and South Jersey’s – hold only a doubles row, swim and singles row. Although they are technically open races, they are almost exclusively men’s races.
The South Jersey’s in particular have been resistant to expansion. The race had only a doubles row from 1919 to 1937. A swim was added in 1938. A singles row was included for a couple years but didn’t become a permanent part of the competition until 1973.
Think about it, the last time the South Jersey Championships expanded, a certain writer was a 15-year-old working at Steger’s Beach Service before starting his sophomore year of high school.
He’s now a 68-year-old married grandfather who will be attending his 50th high school reunion in September.
Given the growing number of female lifeguards – they make up nearly 50 percent of beach patrols in some cases – it’s only fair that they be included in determining the best patrol in South Jersey.
It’s probably too late for this summer’s race, but it’s high time it added a women’s swim and both a men’s and women’s rescue board race to the schedules.
How about before my 60th reunion?
David is a nationally recognized sports columnist who has covered Philadelphia and local sports for over 40 years. After 35 years with The Press, he has served as a columnist for 973ESPN.com and created his own Facebook page, Dave Weinberg Extra Points. Send comments to weinbergd419@comcast.net.
