Meadow Liversuch, Dallas Walker-Milan and Lydianna O’Neil at the national lifesaving sport championships awards banquet in June at Fort McMurray.
A fund-raiser will be held Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Fort Macleod outdoor pool for three local athletes travelling to Italy for a world championship.
A midnight swim will run from 9:30 p.m. to midnight in support of lifesaving sport athletes Dallas Walker-Milan of Fort Macleod and Meadow Liversuch and Lydianna O’Neil of Claresholm.
Admission is $5 with all proceeds from the event going towards the athletes’ travel fees.
The three athletes were named to the Canadian lifesaving sport team in June during the nationals at Fort McMurray.
The athletes do not receive funding and must raise about $4,500 apiece for the trip to Italy.
In addition to the midnight swim fund-raiser, Walker-Milan, Liversuch and O’Neil are looking for individual sponsorship.
Anyone interested in donating can contact Walker-Milan at dallas.walker@hotmail.com.
Walker-Milan is also using the trip to the world championships as an opportunity to promote her sport.
“I want people to know about the sport so that this sport can grow and become large in Canada,” Walker-Milan said in an interview. “It starts off as junior lifeguard club at your local pool . . . and eventually turns into lifesaving sport.”
“You get to go to some larger competitions. It’s the only humanitarian-based sport out there where the basis is water rescue, which means you’re not only learning how to swim but you’re learning how to help someone and how to give back to the community.”
“I’m hoping that if anyone is interested in this sport or have any questions that they will reach out to me so I can facilitate the growth of this sport and continue to give back to my community in different ways.”
Life-saving sport events include 200-m obstacle swim, 100-m tow with fins, 100-m carry with fins, 50-m manikin carry, 200-m super lifesaver, 4×50-m medley relay, 4×25-m manikin relay, 4×50-m obstacle relay, and line throw.
