Held in the Olympos Pool in Burgess Hill. This event saw teams from ten Universities across the country battle through two days of intense competition to win the title of BULSCA Nationals Champions 2008.

Saturday saw the speed events; including individual and relay events for rope throw, obstacle swimming, manikin tows and carries, and the gruelling medley rescue and super lifesaver events. These events attracted competitors from the Great Britain lifesaving squad, and Southampton’s presence in the medal positions for many events, and an overall speeds position of third was an incredible achievement.

Sunday took the format of a more traditional BULSCA league competition, with a dry and a wet incident, followed by a rope throw relay and a swim and tow relay. This year, we were also lucky enough to have the involvement of the RNLI, who organised a beach scenario for all teams to try their hand at. Southampton entered three teams of four people, all of which came in the top ten, with the B team achieving 6th place, the highest scoring B team in the competition, and the A team storming their way to first place. SULSC’s A team also emerged victorious from the beach scenario, demonstrating the club’s wide ranging abilities.

Results for the two days were then combined to calculate the overall BULSCA Nationals Champion squad, with SULSC proudly earning the title. This amazing victory is a result of every single SULSC squad member performing outstandingly in all events across the weekend, and very much represents the time, effort and dedication put in by all competitors, helpers, bodies and timekeepers from Southampton University Lifesaving Club.

This domination by SULSC at the student nationals reflects our success in the BULSCA league, where with one competition remaining, we are currently winning the A league, and hold joint first position in the B league. As the B league comprises of the top scoring non A team for each club during each competition, this shows that the current successes of SULSC can be seen throughout the entire club.

This year’s amazing performances were also recognised at this year’s Athletic Union Awards Ball. Lauren Dyson and Joe Scurrah received full colours, and Ben Bishop was awarded half colours. Furthermore, our A team was nominated for team of the year, and Lauren Dyson was nominated for Sportswoman of the year, reflecting the huge amounts of time and effort she has dedicated to the club, both as captain for the A team, and as captain of the entire club.