Popular Lifeguard Competition Unfolds Wednesday In Hamptons

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Lifeguards are set to battle it out in a popular annual competition Wednesday.

Southampton Town Parks and Recreation officials said that the annual Mike Diveris Memorial Interbeach Lifeguard Competition will take place on July 1 at Scott Cameron Beach in Bridgehampton.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a team picture and Kevin Quinn singing the National Anthem. Assistant Chief Lifeguard David Riley, is the official starter, but will also be competing in a few events during the night, organizers said.

Town lifeguards will battle each other in teams over the course of seven events such as: a distance swim, distance run, four-man long board paddle relay, landline rescue, 4x100-meter relay, run-swim-run, and the “ultra-competitive” beach flags events, organizers said.

Since 2019, the popular contest has been named for local lifeguarding legend Mike Diveris, who passed away on June 17 of that year, organizers said.

A town lifeguard for more than three decades, he was among the first to pass the "grueling" Suffolk County ocean certification test in 1970.

In addition to serving on the sand, Diveris taught first and fourth-grade at Hampton Bays Elementary School from 1971 to 2001, and then was a teacher in the high school’s social studies department. As a football coach, he led the Hampton Bays varsity team to a league championship in 1987, and also coached for the Westhampton Beach School District.

Lifeguarding colleagues donated a bench and plaque in his honor at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays.

The namesake contest has typically been a precursor to the East Hampton Main Beach competition held each July and the USLA National Lifeguard Championship in August. In the latter event, Southampton, East Hampton, and Montauk guards typically join forces to compete as the Hampton Lifesaving Association, organizers said.