Qatar Lifeguard Challenge

Intercontinental Hotel Doha held the 2nd Qatar Lifeguard Challenge on its beachfront on Saturday 14/06/2008.

Intercontinental Hotel Doha held the 2nd Qatar Lifeguard Challenge on its beachfront on Saturday 14/06/2008. The challenge involved four different events, which included surf race, beach sprint, beach relay and beach flags and attracted a large group of spectators.

There were more than 60 participants and the teams included professional lifeguards as well as amateur enthusiasts from Ukraine, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Canada etc… and this year for the first time, children from the international schools in Doha.

International Lifesaving Federation’s secretary general Dr. Harald Vervaecke, Lifeguard Challenge chief referee and key organiser Dr. Paul Saffigna who represented Surf Life Saving Australia, judge and starter Peter Whitall representing United Kingdom Royal Lifesaving Society, Institute of Sport and Recreation Management, Institute of Qualified Lifeguards, and judge and starter Stewart Hodsoll, representing UK Royal Lifesaving Society and the Institute of Qualified Lifeguards were present.

The first challenge was a Surf Race’ (300 metre sea swim), scored as an individual and team event. In the second event, competitors had to complete a 90 metre Beach Sprint,’ while the third event was a Beach Relay’ race.

The most fiercely contested was the Beach Flag’ event, in which the athletes had to run to pick up the flag at a distance of 25metres from a horizontal start position. With fewer flags available than runners, there was a scram for the beach flags, with some competitors being knocked out before the next round. This continued with fewer flags and competitors in each round until only two athletes were left chasing a single flag.

After almost three hours of competition, the challenge produced 17 winners and three overall winners. The InterContinental Doha team included the hotel’s own qualified lifeguards Edward, Suresh, Dinesh and Dammika.

The winning teams were presented with trophies. Dr Vervaecke spoke in support of the event and commended Dr. Paul Saffigna, the referes, the sponsor and the InterContinental organisation team for their level of organisation and enthusiasm.

“This is a first for Doha and we are very pleased with the response to the Lifeguard Challenge. We want to educate people about lifesaving and this is a good opportunity to do just that, InterContinental Doha’s recreation manager Asela Jayaweera said.

Source: The Gulf Times, Baywatch at InterCon beachfront