Water events put safety first
Procedures in place after tragic Pier to Pub death
ORGANISERS of the region’s next major open water swimming event believe they have procedures in place to respond to incidents in the wake of the Lorne Pier to Pub tragedy.
Murray Howard, 65, died at the race on Saturday despite the best efforts of lifesavers and emergency services on a sobering day for seasoned organisers and participants.
Lorne Pier to Pub organisers have yet to comment further on how they will address safety measures for future events as they wait until the completion of a coronial inquiry into the death.
Ocean Grove SLSC will run its open water swimming festival later this month and president David Pavia said he believed the club was well prepared to respond in the event of an emergency, with a flotilla of powered craft and rescuers on boards, but conceded “sometimes the unexpected can happen”.
“We have safety personnel dotted throughout the course at less than 50m intervals, which means we’re in a good position to monitor people in the water … and at our event and as would apply under any event run under the auspices of Lifesaving Victoria we have to satisfy pretty stringent criteria to run this sort of event,” he said.
Mr Pavia competed at Lorne on Saturday and commended organisers for the safety measures they had in place, expressing his sadness over the tragedy.
“I feel for the family of the person involved. It’s always tragic when these things happen,” he said.
“I swam it and certainly they had plenty of water safety on hand.
“Unfortunately there are occasional tragedies and it’s up to the organisers to try to mitigate the risk as much as possible and I’m sure the organisers of the Pier to Pub did everything they possibly could.”
Open water swim star Sam Sheppard said organisers “did an amazing job” handling the incident and supporting the family.
“The support out there is second to none. They’ve been running it for so long and their emergency response plan is very good and the conditions out there were lovely,” he said.
“You do get swimmers, some out there for the first time, who do get into trouble and need the help of the Lorne lifesavers … and they make it such a safe and enjoyable environment.”
Mr Sheppard said Mr Howard’s death hit close to home as his 61-year-old father Michael, who has faced health battles in the past, was also competing on the day.
“It also makes you think, he was a fit and healthy guy, so it could have happened to anyone,” he said.