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Ocean City Beach Patrol takes top spot in Lifeguard Olympics

Bethany BP takes second place
Ocean City Beach Patrol guard Kade Ramm took top honors in the beach flag competition at the 40th Annual Rehoboth Beach Patrol Lifeguard Olympics. DAN COOK PHOTOS
Dan Cook
August 2, 2017
Dewey Beach Patrol guards (l-r) Josh Keil, Edward Kaiser and Sam McMillon get intense during the tug-of-war competition at the 40th annual Rehoboth Beach Patrol Lifeguard Olympics.
Steve O'Boyle from Middlesex Beach Patrol flexes as he takes first in the paddleboard race.
Alec Hochrein sprints for the Delaware State Parks Beach Patrol guards. They took second place to OCBP in a photo finish.
Cape Henlopen High School teacher and South Bethany Beach Patrol guard Brad Bivens sprints out of the Atlantic in the surf dash relay.
Ruslan Kopunek of the South Bethany Beach Patrol leads the pack into the surf in the iron man relay.
Winning the surf dash relay was the Bethany Beach Patrol team of (l-r) Matt Mullin, Brendan Regan, Bryant Wheatly, Michael Barnes, Sydney Kirsch and Daniel Tarbrake.
Bethany Beach Patrol guard Brendan Regan sprints to the finish of the surf dash relay.
Winning the iron man relay was the South Bethany Beach Patrol team of (l-r) Ben Chandler, Christine Mountain and Ruslan Kopunek.
Tyler Lawson of the Fenwick Island Beach Patrol leads the pack and eventually wins the hard sand run.
Fenwick Island Beach Patrol guard Tyler Lawson wins the hard sand run.
Cape grad and Delaware State Parks Beach Patrol guard Alec Hochrein leads the first leg of the iron man relay.
Cape grad and Middlesex Beach Patrol guard Billy Swontek, center, grabs a flag during the beach flag competition. He reached the quarterfinals of the event.
Cape grad and Delaware State Parks Beach Patrol guard Grace Brokaw makes the second-leg turn in the iron man relay.
Brad Allison, front, and Alden Wingate of the Middlesex Beach Patrol smash a wave in winning the paddleboard rescue race.
The Rehoboth Beach Patrol entry in the landline competition fell at the finish, leaving an opening for the South Bethany team to snatch victory. Shown are RBP members Cody Quig, bottom, AJ Brady, left, Lyndsey Taddei and Sean Connor.
The OCBP relay team of (l-r) Trevor Buonomo, Matt Kenny, Emanuelle Clouser and Josh Remaniak took first-place honors in the run-swim-run.
OCBP guard Matt Kenney, left, runs out of the surf first to win the half-mile swim.
Sean Connor pulls the landline for the RBP.
Sydney Kirsch runs the female leg of the surf dash for the winning Bethany Beach Patrol squad.
Cape grad and Middlesex Beach Patrol guard Billy Swontek, center, battles for a flag with Sea Colony’s Dustin Venables.
OCBP guard Lt. Skip Lee, left, yells encouragement to Chris Fusco, Kevin Reed, Phil Scalabrini and AJ Smith during the tug-of-war competition. Ocean City took top honors in the contest.
There was intense competition during the surf dash.
Ocean City guard Jackie Pickering cheers on OCBP as they win the tug-of-war.
Dewey Beach Patrol guard Ben Thornes, standing, shouts instructions to his pullers Nate Jones, right, Ryan Nowakowski, Sam McMillon and Ed Kaiser.
Taking off for the surf in the landline is Dewey Beach guard Mike Czerwinski, right, with his pullers Mike Sabino and Ryan Nowakowski.

The Boardwalk and beach were packed with spectators and curious onlookers at Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth Beach, as the annual Lifeguard Olympics held its 40th anniversary competition July 27. The Ocean City Beach Patrol members didn’t disappoint their fans, as they took top honors in the competition. Bethany Beach Patrol took second, South Bethany placed third and Middlesex followed in fourth.

Competitions included the hard sand mile run, landline, half-mile swim, paddle board rescue, run-swim-run, half-mile paddle, 220 run relay, iron man medley, surf dash relay, beach flags and tug-of-war.

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Dan has worked for the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years as a photographer and reporter, covering high school sports and happenings around eastern Sussex County. He won a photography award from the National Newspaper Association, and numerous awards from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association. A Delaware native, Dan graduated from Cape in 1972 and returned as a teacher and coach in the 1980s. He retired from the classroom in 2016. He was inducted into Cape High’s Legends Stadium in 2016. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, grandchildren and dogs. 

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