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Rigg International Swiftwater Challenge
Contact Person: Shawn Alladio Telephone Number: (714) 997-2645 Email Address: RiggChallenge@aol.com Web site address: www.higginslangley.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
RIGG SWIFTWATER CHALLENGE RESCUE SKILL COMPETITION
The Rigg International Swiftwater Challenge honors water rescue professionals who are dedicated to lifesaving in swiftwater, floods and hurricanes worldwide. The Challenge bears the name in honor of Nancy Rigg. Team members include key rescue personnel from Los Angeles County who serve in the pioneering (LACOFD), Multi-Agency Swiftwater Rescue program that Nancy Rigg envisioned and fought for in the aftermath of her fiancé's death. "By providing search and rescue personnel with the proper training and equipment they need to perform swiftwater and flood rescue operations," Rigg says, "we not only protect our valuable public safety professionals, but we also give victims who are swept away in floods and storm surges a fighting chance to be rescued." The team entry fees go towards the Higgins and Langley Memorial awards fund a non profit organization that distributes annual awards to public safety agencies that perform valorous acts of service and courage to save lives during floods or swiftwater incidents. The charitable donation of $550 was given by each team to the memorial awards for their registration fee. Volunteers staffed the event and donated time and resources on behalf of the Higgins and Langley Memorial Awards to make this event a success. Day One: The Carlsbad, Encina Power plant outflow to the ocean provided the swiftwater venue site for a series of disciplines that included throw bags to victims in the water, swimming, boat based courses, line systems and a technical challenge. After the safety briefing given by Jim Segerstrom, the 3 teams quickly broke into huddles preparing their strategies. Teams were timed and given points to earn an overall title, or individual titles per event disciplines. The Los Angeles County Fire Department took the lead early on winning 4 out of the 5 events, they appeared to be heading towards a complete blitz until the R2 event dropped them to a 3rd place finish! COSAR dominated the win for the R2 event placing them ahead of Alameda, paddling an inflatable Oceanid boat through a series of gates from river left to river right. LACOFD really shined in the final event of the day in the team swim event, with 2 consistent times on a grueling course at the completion of the day when the other teams were nearing exhaustion. Day Two: Los Angeles County Fire Department had already clinched the overall title heading into the second day of competition; the battle was for 2nd and 3rd places between Alameda and COSAR. Mission Bay was the setting for the Yamaha sponsored PWC Team Rescue event that would break the tie that existed between ALCO and COSAR. Wahoo Lifesleds donated 2 rescue boards, one used in the competition and the other donated to the overall team winner, teams were given 3 hours to practice prior to competing. Team members split into 2 groups of 3 would navigate the buoy course, pick up a victim and return through the start-stop gate, 2 runs were given and times were combined for their overall score. The team runs looked almost identical, until LACOFD took a spin on the near last buoy taking them out of contention. Alameda County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team won the overall and this also clinched the 2nd place tie-breaking points to edge out COSAR-College of Search and Rescue staffed by Los Angeles City Fire Personnel. This was an extremely close event; either placing would have put the other team in 2nd position! Kawasaki sponsored the Individual Slalom event; competitors negotiated a zigzag buoy course of 7 turning points for 2 runs, the lowest time placed. Greg Weber of LACOFD barely edged out COSAR's Greg Terrill by .07 of a second to win the first place prize! Andrew Wright of ALCO took the 3rd place setting a mere .08 of a second behind Terrill. Placings continued down to 10th place. In the PWC Team Slalom event, COSAR (Mitchel/Albaran) took the first place position, and the Man (woman) overboard award was given to ALCO's Leah Waarvik for her interesting completion of the start stop gates on the slalom course. COSAR is sponsored by Kawasaki Motors Corporation and we would like to thank COSAR for bringing the Jet Skis and the Los Angeles City Fire Department for supporting swiftwater rescue and the Personal Watercraft Industry free law loan program. The awards were given out for each individual event, including the overall team placings. The Los Angeles County Fire Department team won the Skyhook Rescue Systems prize for winning the Technical Challenge event. After they received their award, Team Captain Bryan Wells announced that LACOFD Team was "going to donate this prize to the Alameda County Sheriff's Search and Rescue volunteer team", handing over the grand prize to ALCO Team Captain Bill Weber. "Our team is very grateful for the generosity of the LACOFD team, as a volunteer group we appreciate the Skyhook donation and will put it to good use. We are honored to be competing with the best agencies in the Country, and we thank everyone for their support", states Bill. Jim Segerstrom is the founder of the Rigg Challenge Swiftwater event, through his company, Special Rescue Services a 2 day class was given as a grand prize to the Los Angeles County Fire Department team for their outstanding competition level. They also received a 3 day Personal Watercraft Rescue Boat course from K38 Water Safety, whom is run by another staff volunteer, Shawn Alladio and Kyla Dominguez. Thank you to the teams who under very short notice stepped up and took the lead to participate, including the product sponsors who donated prizes and equipment to the teams. The organizers would like to thank the wonderful volunteers who donated their resources and the City of San Diego, Todd Smith for coming out after a medical emergency and preparing a feast for the final event, Bob Blakeslee for designing the website, the Encina Powerplant and Nancy Rigg for her inspiration. |