Carnivals
Board/Swim Race
Board and swim races are staple events of surf carnivals. This is an event for U9 up which consists of starting on the beach and swimming / paddling around a series of cairns before returning to shore. There are both individual and team variations of this race. Teams include; a board relay (3 people in a row), board rescue (one swimmer and one board paddler to pick them up), and swim teams (total score of 4 swimmers in one race).
Iron
The Iron race is considered one of the hardest events in which an individual undertakes either a swim or board leg around a set of cairn. Then when they return to shore they run around a set of flags before undertaking the leg they have not completed, finishing with a sprint around 2 flags. The team variation of this is the Cameron (consisting of 4 people all of whom undertake one leg each in a relay form)
Beach Events
There are two types of individual beach events; flags and sprints. Sprints is a 70m (varying depending on age group) sprint in soft sand. Whilst flags is a special event where participants lie on their stomach facing away from a flag in the ground and once the whistle is blown get up and grab a flag (there are less than the number of participants). Teams include a sprint relay and an all age relay in which a person from every age group undertakes in one large relay.
March Past
March Past events involve a team of 12 members marching in a formation around a set course in time with music. Included in the team are members carrying a reel, wearing a belt and carrying the club flag. March Past is an iconic event within the surf lifesaving movement. March Past has been a part of the surf carnivals since early days. It was originally 20 members. The March Past is the example of the significant impact returned servicemen had on the development of the surf lifesaving and competition in the early days. In past years, clubs were not able to compete at carnivals unless they fielded a March Past team or someone with the Club standard. As the teams comprised of competitors from other areas, carnivals used to stop while the March Past event was in progress. Old footage of the lifesaving movement will often feature March Past teams in action.
While the event remains popular, it is no longer featured as prominently at surf carnivals.
