Amanda Renardy admitted that she hesitated for a fraction of a second when she first saw Elias Baker鈥檚 injured arm.

Courtesy of a volunteer movie makeup artist, Baker had a convincing peice of sharp material embedded in his upper left arm and it was bleeding quite realistically.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure where to touch him [at first],鈥� Renardy related.

But then, training and experience kicked in, and Renardy efficiently tended to her patient, who groaned in pain as she wrapped the injury.

Renardy was one of 44 lifeguards on 11 teams competing at the 20th annual Langley Lifeguard Competition on Saturday (august 10) at the Walnut Grove pool, with competitors coming from as far as away as Vancouver island to test their life-saving skills in the longest-running competition of its kind in western Canada.

It was an outdoor test of their first-aid skills.

Organizer Chris Cordova described the competitors as some of the most accomplished lifeguards in the province.

鈥淚 would say that these are some of the best of the best,鈥� Cordova observed.

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Inside the pool, Langley lifeguard Kelsey Hum was competing with other lifeguards in the deep end of the Walnut Grove pool under the diving platform, aiming to get as many simulated victims out of the pool and into an inflatable platform before a whistle sounded.

鈥淚t鈥檚 rescue as many people as you can,鈥� Hum explained, who referred to Walnut Grove as her 鈥渉ome pool.鈥濃��

Overall winner this year was a team called 鈥淭he Beaches鈥� from a White Rock-based aquatics company.

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Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com

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