A Team - 4th (Note: 1st in Dry SERC)
B Team - 11th
C Team - 16st

Following on from Richard’s report a couple of weeks ago it has fallen to me (or rather no one else seemed enthusiastic enough) to write the report for our latest adventure to Plymouth’s first Lifesaving Competition. I was going to start this by laughing at those people who live in Coventry who had to get picked up at 06:00 whereas I (as well as Holly, Dave, Andy and Simon) was picked up from Leamington at 06:30). However, then I remembered that this still meant I had to be picked at bloody 06:30 – epic fail!

After the last pick up (Simon who failed to make it to the meeting point on time) we set off towards Plymouth (again after a big debate on the correct route to go, my suggestion of down the A46 was eventually conceded to be the best one), pillows in hand.

We arrived at Plymouth at around 11:00 (a whole hour before registration closed, think of all the extra time we could have had in bed, sigh) at which point we got rather lost finding the pool once parked (and it was raining :)). Once we found it we got changed and headed for isolation.

Warwick A were the first team out. The dry incident was outside in a muddy, wet field. The story was that some people had been having a picnic and we had heard some cries for help. Once in the incident we found there drinks had been spiked, leaving us with an unconscious not breathing, a unconscious breathing, a drunkard with glass in their hand and another couple of drunks just generally being annoying (sounds like me at Thursday training). Two minutes later Warwick A had secured themselves 1st place in the dry incident (despite being 1st out!).

The wet was set at the London Triathlon. There were some random unresponsive swimmers, a couple of non-swimmers, a couple of weak swimmers, a man on the side with an injured leg, a BOB and an asthmatic in a boat at the far end of the pool. In a typical BULSCA SERC style the inhaler for the asthmatic was actually back near the shallow end, however, with a lot of swimming (done by me) the asthmatic and mostly everyone was treated effectively in time (we did have a bit of a fail with the non-swimmer at the deep end). Southampton A had an interesting technique of getting the inhaler down to the asthmatic, by throwing it all the way down the pool in a perfect arch to be caught by a team mate (something that only Southampton A would achieve). This, however, did not result in the judges being impressed.

The speeds also went very well. The A team got a great time of 6:54 in the swim tow and Andy, Dave and I all got PBs (1:38, 1:34 and 1:36 respectively). Unfortunately Warwick’s ropes still needs some practice with a fair number of Warwick (myself included) not get the rope out 1st time.

After the competition we went back to Aiden’s house to drop our stuff and get ready to go out. The theme for the social was under the sea, so here we prepared for the social with Kate getting semi-naked (or as Lizzi has put it) preparing her incredibly dignified mermaid outfit. Dave & Stu covered themselves in crape paper and safety pins in a poor attempt to look like seaweed and Claire, who was quite tired fell asleep almost straight away on one of the sofas and re-surfaced about an hour later when we were meant to be going out!

Unfortunately, despite it being a great social, the food left a fair amount to be desired, with 1 small dominos pizza each (somehow Stu ended up with a second...)

The social was good fun, with almost everyone there doing a shot at once (a new BULSCA tradition perhaps?) and an inter-uni boat race. Some people (Kate) managed to drink more than their fair share of alcohol though. Luckily a pint glass was nearby for the inevitable re-emergence of the liquid, something the bar staff did not take kindly to when Andy asked them to “dispose” of it. With the night going on, some people decided to head off to another bar (with incredibly cheap jagerbombs & Simon having his t-shirt stolen by a chav in yet another Baywatch moment from what I’m told). Stu, Claire and I took the house of skirt girls (Kate and Caroline) home. Ok, so carried might be a more accurate description. Unfortunately upon arriving at the house we discovered it to be locked. After lots of phone calls (to which no-one was answering) Jen finally got a key and started walking to the house. Meanwhile we were dealing with an almost unconscious Kate who seemed to be taking great delight on putting her whole weight onto us and resting her head in such a way as to be staring down Caroline’s top.

We eventually got in (thanks Jen) and fell asleep. I must have been rather tired as I didn’t even here the others come in at 03:00, but based on the candidates that went out, I suspect there was a lot of drunkenness.

The following morning we woke up bright and early at 05:30 with an alarm going off, quickly went back to sleep and then re-awoke 3 hours later. Louisa, Holly and Vicki arrived shortly after, having spent the night in double beds at Louisa’s best friend’s house.

After packing the stuff in the car, we headed home, tired and weary and unfortunately still having a rather large number of assignments to do.