Beachgoers were filling the sands along the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk under an unrelenting, sunny sky Wednesday.
But not the blocks between Candy Kitchen and the Atlantic Sands Hotel.
That stretch of beach, centered on the Baltimore Avenue Beach Patrol headquarters, was clear of beach blankets, sunbathers and sand castles.
In their place were lifeguards: scores of men and women from throughout Delaware beach squads and beyond — Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
All came together for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Lifesaving Championship held annually along the shoreline there. They were competing in running, swimming and rescue events for bragging rights and eligibility for the U.S. Lifesaving Association’s national competition.
“Most of the events simulate some form of lifeguarding,” Hunter McFalls of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol said.
“The competitions are always a pretty big rivalry between patrols because it is always like ‘who is the better lifeguard in this scenario?'”
There are plenty of opportunities for lifeguards to test each other, including when local lifeguards will come together on the same Rehoboth sands after lifeguarding hours on July 28 for the Lifeguard Olympics.
Rehoboth Beach lifeguard Josh Walker said lifeguarding was like a sport of its own. Many lifeguards are college athletes or recent graduates, he said, training and competing in sports such as swimming in the school year and keeping up their fitness in the summer.
“We work out every day on the beach patrol,” Walker said. “We work out in the morning, in the afternoon, swimming in the ocean, running on the beach. Because you never want to go out for rescue and not be in enough shape to pull someone in.”
