SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Lifeguards are set to battle it out in a popular annual competition Wednesday.
Southampton Town Parks and Recreation officials said the annual Mike Diveris Memorial Interbeach Lifeguard Competition will be held July 1 at Scott Cameron Beach in Bridgehampton.
The event will begin at 6pm with a team photo and Kevin Quinn singing the National Anthem. Assistant Chief Lifeguard David Riley is the official starter, but will also compete in a few events throughout the night, organizers said.
The city's lifeguards will battle each other in teams during seven events including: distance swim, distance run, four-person paddle relay, landline rescue, 4x100m relay, run-swim-run and the 'ultra-competitive' beach flag events, organizers said.
As of 2019, the popular competition has been named for local lifeguard legend Mike DeVries, who died on June 17 of that year, organizers said.
A town lifeguard for more than three decades, he was among the first to pass Suffolk County's “exhaustive” ocean certification test in 1970.
In addition to serving in the sand, Diveris taught first and fourth grades at Hampton Bays Elementary School from 1971 to 2001 and then was a high school social studies teacher. As a football coach, he led the Hampton Bays varsity team to a league championship in 1987, and also coached for the Westhampton Beach School District.
Fellow lifeguards donated a bench and plaque in his honor at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays.
The eponymous competition was usually the precursor to the East Hampton Main Beach competition held each July and the USLA National Lifeguard Championship in August. In the latter event, lifeguards from Southampton, East Hampton and Montauk typically join forces to compete as the Hampton Lifeguard Association, organizers said.
