Tough competition, rough conditions for 17th annual Cape May Point Women’s Lifeguard Challenge
CAPE MAY POINT — When Sara Werner emerged from the surf after the second leg of the Cape May Point Beach Patrol Women’s Lifeguard Challenge on July 23, only Becca Cubbler was within a minute.
The currents around St. Pete’s beach were rough on that beautiful summer evening, wreaking havoc with the 55 competitors in the challenge, scattering the paddleboarders, some feeling like they were treading water as they struggled to get back to shore.
The Cape May Beach Patrol lieutenant and Cubbler, a veteran competitor for the Avalon Beach Patrol, navigated the shifting waters of Delaware Bay better than the others.
The 1,000-meter paddleboard portion followed a brutal 1.25-mile run in the soft sand. After Werner got off the paddleboard and back on the beach, she took off.
The competitors had to run another 550 meters on soft sand and then finish with a 500-meter ocean swim. Werner entered the water first.
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It was in that final leg that Cubbler, who has won numerous swim races in lifeguard competitions in South Jersey, caught and then passed her.
Werner, a 22-year veteran of the CMBP, said her strategy was to “paddle and run as hard as I can and then be a rock in the swim.”
Werner gave props to Cubbler.
“She’s my hero,” Werner said. Smiling, she added, “She’s going to teach me how to swim later.”
“That one’s really funny,” Cubbler said, smiling about Werner’s comment and returning the favor. “She’s an amazing runner and paddler, obviously, so it was a really, really good competition, I think overall for all the girls. It’s really awesome to see.”
It was the first time that Cubbler had won the event and it was the best finish out of five tries for Werner, who is leaving the patrol after this summer.
The 27-year-old Avalon guard’s winning time was 29:33. Werner, 38, clocked in at 29:49.
They were the only two to finish in under 30 minutes, their times about 4 minutes slower than the winning time last year, when all the competitors finished in less than 39 minutes.
This year, only the top 12 completed the course in under 40 minutes with the final qualified finisher clocking in at a full 57 minutes. Five others were disqualified. Before the start of the race, officials said they were capping it at an hour and would not count those taking longer.
Sixteen-year-old Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol guard Ava Fields was third in 30:38, HCBP teammate Meg Pruskowski, 22, was fourth (31:38), and Ocean City (Md.) Beach Patrol guard Emma Bridges, 25, was fifth (32:08).
Fields and Pruskowski earned the first-place team award.
The Ocean City (Md.) Beach Patrol and Cape May Beach Patrol tied in points for second, but the OCBP earned the award in a tie-breaker because its other swimmer, Katie Zgorski, finished sixth.
Werner’s teammate, Colette Ungvary, was ninth overall. They were awarded third place as a team.
Rough, rough race
“It’s definitely the hardest it’s ever been,” said Upper Township Beach Patrol guard Lindsay Robbins, 22, a veteran paddleboard competitor.
“The current out there was brutal, especially on the paddle,” she said. “When you got to the flag, it was just pulling you the other way when you had to turn. It was ripping real hard today.”
She was satisfied completing the course.
“Oh, it feels great to finish,” Robbins said. “This race is always just such an accomplishment just to be out here and finish this tough of a race.”
Sea Bright Beach Patrol lifeguard Bella Bulhoes agreed.
“I think that’’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And this is my third time doing this,” she said. “I’ve done plenty of lifeguard competitions, half-marathons, 5Ks, whatever. This is the hardest athletic competition I’ve ever done.
“The conditions are so challenging today.”
Asked what made it so difficult, Bulhoes cited the incoming tide.
“At the competitors meeting, they said they were going to cut people off at 7:30. (The race began at 6:30 p.m.) I was like, ‘Come on, who’s not going to finish by then?’ Now I understand,” Bulhoes said. “You were on a treadmill. Me and one girl were at the flag and we’re just not moving.”
Like Robbins and the other competitors, Bulhoes was satisfied she was had finished.
“I don’t even care what place I got, I’m just happy I finished that,” she said.
Cubbler and Werner
Cubbler said she entered this race once before about four years ago and came in sixth.
Like others, she had her own troubles on the course.
“I have strong shoulders from swimming so I could paddle against the current a little bit better. I actually got knocked off going around the buoy,” she said. “I hopped back on quick and then just let the current take me on the way back.
“I did my best on that second run. I felt like my legs were going to give out.”
Unsure of what place she was in, she knew there was one swimmer ahead of her.
“My goal was to just get past her. I just used everything I had left, really, and let the waves take me in,” Cubbler said.
“This is a tough, tough competition against a really, really tough group of girls so (winning) feels really amazing,” Cubbler said.
Werner said she felt “really good” afterward.
“I gave my all. I think we came in pretty close together and it’s awesome. It feels really good. I’m really grateful to finish like this,” she said.
Before the race, Werner said she wanted to take part because this is her last year lifeguarding on the CMBP “so I had to do it. I had to be a good influence on the kids and I want to just finish strong.”
She also took part because “it’s a grueling challenge” and she is good friends with Cape May Point’s Kristen Moorby, who founded the race, now in its 17th year.
“We came up guarding together and this is her brainchild,” Werner said. “We have such a new young crop of amazing women and our patrol is finally 50-50 (male-female) and I just want to represent them.
“I had to do it one last time as a member of the CMBP.”
Other finishers
6. Katie Zgorski, OCBP (Md.), 32:43; 7. Jillian Murphy, Sea Isle City, 33:19; 8. Alyssa Sittineri, Stone Harbor, 33:39; 9. Colette Ungvary, Cape May, 35:13; 10. Alexandra Back, Cape May, 35:26; 11. Mia Burke, OCBP (Md.), 35:31; 12. Kacie Hymers, Cape May Point, 35:47; 13. Rachel Stauffer, Sea Isle City, 37:36; 14. Reese Hetzer, Stone Harbor, 40:53; 15. Lauren Sweet, Wildwood Crest, 42:35; 16. Allie Bofinger, North Wildwood Beach Patrol, 43:01; 17. Bella Bulhoes, Sea Bright, 43:27; 18. Lindsay Robbins, Upper Township, 43:54; 19. Lauren Steltz Wildwood Crest, 44:40; 20. Molly McDonnell, Avalon, 45:14; 21. Emie Frederick, Wildwood Crest, 45:57; 22. Emerson Simpson, Cape May, 46:09;
23. Regan McDonnell, Avalon, 46:28; 24. Kelly Catania, Ocean City Beach Patrol (N.J.) “B,” 46:41; 25. Charlotte Thomas, Ventnor, 46:51; 26. Ivy Slavinski, Sea Girt, 47:21; 27. Kylie Fry, Sea Isle City, 47:32; 28. Claudia Booth, Ocean City (N.J.), 47:41; 29. Isabella Aguanno, Island Beach, State Park, 47:44; 30. Emma Klina, Island Beach, 47:50; 31. Gabby Deeley, Wildwood, 47:51; 32. Skylar O’Keefe, Sea Girt, 47:53;
33. Julia Cullen, Ocean City (N.J.), 48:05; 34. Krista Kenney, Sea Bright, 48:33; 35. Maddie Priest, Wildwood Crest, 48:52; 36; Kailey Grimley, Upper Township, 48:53; 37. Fauve Haney, Brigantine, 49:10; 38; Lauren Kulak, Sea Isle City, 49:15; 39. Alexis Guerrieri, Ventnor, 49:18; 40. Callie Walker, North Wildwood, 49:21; 41. Samina Bhatia, Cape May Point, 49:30; 42. Kat Wilkins, Island Beach, 49:35; 43; Chloe Care, Ocean City (N.J.), 49:52; 44. Brynn Donohue, Wildwood, 50:11; 45. Lorna Connell, Upper Township, 50:47; 46. Ava Smith, Upper Township, 50:48; 47; Megan Comas, Wildwood, 51:20; 48; Emily Rhodes, Stone Harbor, 52:15; 49. Katie Scanlon, Avalon, 54:29; 50. Maddie Broderick, Wildwood, 57:00
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave and Ocean City Sentinel staff
