lifeguards at the 2011 Silicon Valley Kids TriathlonLifeguards trained at De Anza College volunteered at the 2011 Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon, as they have done since 2004.
Many were newly trained, from the current lifeguard training class. I received an email from one of them (who is working on becoming an EMT) shortly after the race:
"Hey Mary!,
Todays Kid's Triathlon was amazing!
We did amazing work and it was an adrenaline rush all the way through.
Thank you for preparing us so well. Everybody was ready to rescue and we all knew what we were doing and looked good while at it.
Thanks again Mary!"
 
1,050+ kids ages 15 to about 3 swam in 22 waves (groups) starting at 8 a.m. The oldest swam 200 yards, most swam 100 yards and the youngest swam 25 yards (across the width of the De Anza olympic sized pool).
  
Most of the triathletes finished their swim as they had planned,
some with great strokes and flip turns, some with a modified doggie paddle:
Lifeguards entered the water if a swimmer was in difficulty or began to look too tired to finish, had their kickboard pop out of their hands, or waved that they wanted help. Some triathletes simply held onto the lifeguard's rescue tube and finished their distance kicking with the guard swimming alongside:
Most of the lifeguards get in the water and swim with the last four waves of swimmers, ages six and under.
 
De Anza trained swim volunteers included:
Red Cross lifeguards: Raul Alba, Michael Arenas, (USMC Sargent) Christina Bolanos, Rebecca Bradley, Sierra Janssen, Pamela Holister, Jonathan Mai, Victor Pettyplace, Araceli Sanchez, April Sanchez, Laura Stark and Jerome Ward.
Red Cross lifeguards and lifeguard instructors: Alan Ahlstrand, Mary Donahue, Ken Mignosa and Quang Tran (who also served as an EMT).
Swimmer escorts: (some currently enrolled in the PE 28A lifeguard training class or previous graduates) Marco Estrada, Anna Maria Kozlowska, Hector Salas, Mouzhan Yousefi and Mila Wojslaw De Lanerolle.
Kanishka De Lanerolle served with the security team, asking a thousand children to "walk" or "slow down" as they climbed the stairs from the pool deck heading for their bikes.
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Race info and links to more pictures: http://www.svkidstri.org
The race is a fundraiser for the Silicon Valley Children's Fund. http://www.svcf.org/features/spotlights/ has feel-very-good stories of the people helped by this funding.
Details about the De Anza PE28A lifeguard training class start at: Lifeguard Training FAQs
Two of the volunteers from the De Anza student body originally were adults afraid of the water who entered the De Anza College swim class for adult non-swimmers: Novice swimming.
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All photos on this page are by Alan Ahlstrand, Magna Cum Laude graduate of De Anza College and volunteer of record with the college as a lifeguard instructor since 1987.
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