Jellyfish make presence felt as added obstacle in 18th annual CMPBP race

CAPE MAY POINT — If you didn’t think the women on the local beach patrols were tough enough, you should have joined the spectators July 22 at St. Pete’s Beach to watch the 2026 Cape May Point Women’s Lifeguard Challenge.

The 54 competitors ran 1.25 miles on soft sand, paddled through tough currents for a mile in the Delaware Bay, then got out of the water and ran another 550 meters through soft sand to start the final leg — a 500-meter swim to the finish.

Winner Ivy Slavinski did it in just under 26 minutes. The slowest of the competitors did it in 40.

Did we mention they paddled and swam through swarms of stinging jellyfish? That was a first in the 18 years of the Cape May Point Beach Patrol event. The added obstacle(s) didn’t stop these competitors.

“It is an absolute honor to be able to provide a stage for the women to challenge themselves, their teammates and their fellow female guards mentally and physically,” Race Director Kristen Moorby said. “To say I’m impressed would be an understatement. It’s amazing to watch the entire competition field of various ages and experience levels support one another and charge through varying conditions and elements.”

She cited CMPBP Chief Ben Swan, who said, “It’s fun to watch the grit, strength and speed of the front-runners, but it’s almost more inspiring to see the heart and toughness of those in the back of the pack too. No one gives up!”

Women from 17 different patrols, most from Cape May and Atlantic counties, but also from Sea Girt, Sea Bright, Island Beach State Park and Ocean City, Md., took part.

For Slavinski, of the Sea Girl Beach Patrol, it was the 18-year-old’s third time competing and first win.

Asked about the tough parts of the race, she said the paddle was pretty bad because of the current, “but also just the fact that I know that there’s jellyfish everywhere and you’re actively getting stung and you’ve just got to keep going.”

However, “coming out of the paddle and running up the 400 (yards) to the swim is definitely the hardest part because your legs are dead and you’re just like, ‘OK, now I have to go jump in the water. And then coming around the swim, you’ve got to put your head down, and you’re literally getting wrapped in jellyfish tentacles, like on my whole arms. You could see the jellyfish lines and for some girls they’re all over, like my teammate (Skylar O’Keefe). You’ve got to keep grinding it.

“The whole thing is grueling, each leg, but definitely the jellyfish and the last part of the run,” Slavinski said.

The Sea Girt guard said the difference for her this year was having the experience of knowing the currents and planning for them. The prior year the currents took her out of contention on the paddleboard portion. The first year she competed, she came in second.

Slavinski and O’Keefe also won the team trophy with O’Keefe’s fifth-place finish overall. The meets are scored in cross-country fashion with one point for each place. The lowest point total wins.

“I’m so proud of Ivy for winning,” O’Keefe, 20, said, adding that it felt great to win the team title. “It’s good to come out here and do good. It’s a hard race.”

The SGBP from Monmouth County also won the Ocean City Beach Patrol Women’s Lifeguard Invitational on July 14, when Slavinski and teammate Emily Sudol won the run/swim relay.

On Wednesday, O’Keefe said she lost time going too far out in the swim.

“Next time I’d cut in earlier, but the swim is definitely the hardest. And the jellyfish, not ideal. Not ideal.” O’Keefe is in her fifth year on the Sea Girt patrol.

Katie Zgorski, 25, of the Ocean City, Md., Beach Patrol, finished second overall after running, paddling and swimming side by side with Slavinski through each portion of the race.

Slavinski finished the run first, Zgorski got to shore in the paddleboard first, but Slavinski beat her in the swim for the win.

Zgorski said she wasn’t affected as much by the jellyfish, but they did provide an extra motivation to go faster. She enjoyed the tight competition with Slavinski.

“It was great. I knew we were going to be neck and neck this year based off of last year; we were first together on the run and then on the paddle I was like, ‘I’m going to get her, I’m going to get her.’ I got her today finally,” she said.

Zgorski noted the current last year “was insane,” but this year it was “a little bit more even playing field because we didn’t have as many environmental factors to deal with besides the jellies. But yeah, I knew it was going to be a good, tight competition between us today.”

Racing with Slavinski was “very motivating. I think I’m a lot older than she is, so it’s even more motivating — ‘don’t let these young ones get me’ — but she got me on the swim.”

This was the third time she raced in the CMPBP’s Women’s Lifeguard Challenge. She finished third her first year when multiple-time winner Jenna Parker came back to the race and won again.

Ocean City Sentinel

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