Lifeguards and paramedics treated at least 56 competitors for hypothermia at the annual Dwight Crum Pier to Pier Swim on Sunday, as cold water and breezy air combined for a teeth-chattering event.
Although top finishers did not focus on the temperatures in comments shortly after the race, the medical treatment area was crowded with shaking swimmers, wrapped up in special thermal blankets designed to hoard body heat. Some clasped heating packs under their armpits, and one woman inhaled from an oxygen mask placed over her mouth and nose.
Two swimmers were taken to a hospital, although no serious injuries were reported.
In addition, lifeguards rescued at least 38 people from the water, most of them complaining of hypothermia. Some of the rescued swimmers were among those who went to the medical treatment area, near the finish line on the north side of the Manhattan Beach Pier.
“We had a lot more cold people this year,” said Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Mike Patterson. “Some years we don’t get anybody, and this year we were swamped.”
The water measured 64.2 degrees just before the start of the race at the Hermosa Beach Pier, Patterson said.
“We had a couple lifeguards who were in the swim, and considered getting out and quitting,” he said. “Evidently it was a difficult swim. Still, we had close to 1,000 people finish, so that’s a tribute to them.”
Patterson supervised a small army of lifeguards, some of whom are also paramedics, who paddled, piloted boats and jet skis, and drove trucks on the sand to patrol the event.
The swimmers were equipped with plastic leg tags that were read by a computerized strip lying across the sand at the finish line to determine their times. Lifeguards used the tags to account for each swimmer and assure that everyone who got into the water got back out again.
“We were able to account for all the swimmers by the timing tags,” Patterson said. ER
