St. Augustine Livesaving Association Hosts Point to Point 2010

St. Augustine, FL – Resolve, endurance and perseverance all showed through on Tuesday morning, June 22, 2010, when members of the Saint Augustine Lifesaving Association (SALA) came together at 5am on the beach at Porpoise Point for the annual SALA Point to Point Race.

The event, a grueling race starting at Porpoise Point and finishing in the Matanzas Inlet, consists of several legs. Participants started just after 5am with a swim from Porpoise Point, across the channel to Anastasia State Park, a swim of nearly six tenths of a mile, made in complete darkness.

Competitors then exited the water just long enough to transition into a Sea Kayak and make the nearly four mile trek to the Saint Augustine Pier. With the current running against them, the competitors fought their way in to the beach and then had to drag the kayak out of the water and up the beach.

The checkpoint here offered drinking water to the competitors as well as medical attention if they needed it. As the sun broke the horizon over the water, each competitor dove back into the waves, swimming out around the pier, heading for the A Street beach ramp, a swim of nearly a mile against that same strong current.

Once on the beach at the A Street ramp, the checkpoint offered competitors a chance to change clothes, put on shoes if they wanted and load up on drinking water and high carbohydrate foods before starting the 10 mile run from A Street to the Matanzas Inlet. There were several water and first aid checkpoints along the beach to aid competitors on this, the longest leg of the event

Reaching the Matanzas Inlet, competitors ran under the bridge and along the beach until they came to the next transition, this time to pick up a paddle board that they would use to make their way to the Rattlesnake Island boat ramp, completing the more the 15 mile course nearly five hours after they started at Porpoise Point.

Eleven men and women, all members of SALA and part of the St John’s County Marine Patrol, complete the event in times ranging from just under four hours to just shy of five hours for the last competitor to finish.

These men and women are the people that keep the St. Augustine and St. John’s County beaches safe for everyone. The next time you see one of these folks sitting high on their tower, scanning the beach and surf, remember that these are highly trained and well condition professionals. They are out there to make your visit to the beach fun and safe and work extremely hard to achieve that goal.

Take a minute and say thank you to these often ignored people on your next visit to the beach and come out to support them next year, as they push themselves through this grueling yet event again.

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