Wayne Cotterill, one of NSVL's Beach Lifeguard Trainer/Assessors, was on secondment to the North Tyneside Beach Lifeguards during the summer of 2002 to perform fitness tests and training for the 30 lifeguards.
Wayne used the secondment to gather statistics for use in his RLSS Diploma in which he was assessing how fitness relates to performance in a rescue situation.
Lifeguards had to undergo a fitness test which measured all aspects of their fitness, complete a 1,600m run and then do a simulated rescue. The rescue was timed and included a 50m run, 70m swim and 70m tow of a conscious casualty, but wetsuits were not allowed to be worn so he could see how the initial cold shock affected people.
With the new beach lifeguard pilot scheme syllabus including a 1,600m run
in under 8 minutes, it was also used to see how lifeguards with vastly differing
run times performed a rescue in the sea under the same conditions. The times
to complete the rescue were very similar across the board (an average of around
3 minutes 20), even though times in the run ranged from 5.30 to 8.30.
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