Waterman Eco-Challenge Holding Summer Safe Ocean State Event at Roger Wheeler State Beach on July 20

Published on Thursday, June 20, 2024

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is announcing that the Waterman Eco-Challenge, an annual event launched in 2011 that draws hundreds of open water swimmers and paddlers to Narragansett each year to promote ocean recreational safety, is hosting the Summer Safe Ocean State event at Roger Wheeler State Beach on Saturday, July 20, with a rain date of Sunday, July 21. The event will feature a 5K road race, ocean swim races, paddles races, challenges, and a public education experience area to promote safe summer recreational pillars including drowning prevention, cardiac health, skin cancer prevention, and coastal environment protection. 

During the event, regular parking at Roger Wheeler State Beach will not be impacted. Staff from DEM’s Division of Parks and Recreation and parking vendor LAZ Parking will be directing beachgoers and event participants alike. As always, DEM encourages beachgoers to check the near real-time beach capacity status before heading to the beach and to be patient and courteous to others as they enter beach parking lots. During the event, a small portion of the beachfront will be reserved for the event and the swimming area will be slightly reduced for the event’s swim and paddle races. 

Registration is required to participate in the racing portions of the event, but the event’s education area promoting safe summer recreation is open to the public. Event sponsors that will be present at the education area include University Orthopedics, Raw Elements USA, South County Dermatology, Partnership To Reduce Cancer In RI, The American Heart Association of RI, Pods Swimming, DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Resource Education Program, the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative, Surfrider RI, and more. Event sponsors will be hosting complimentary activities including hands only CPR instruction, public automated external defibrillator (AED) use tutorials, water safety and rip current awareness, skin cancer check screenings, health and wellness activities, coastal wildlife education, and local seafood sustainability. Funds raised from the event will support The Partnership to Reduce Cancer In RI, The American Heart Association of RI, and the Janice Causey Memorial Art Scholarship at Narragansett High School. For more information about the event, please visit www.watermanecochallenge.com. 

“It is incredibly fulfilling to see this event grow every year and continue to have so much positive community impact,” said Waterman Eco-Challenge & Raw Elements USA Founder Brian Guadagno. "We always hear participants say ’this is the best day of summer!’. This year we will have enormous opportunity to raise awareness and funds for those organizations that are making a difference in Rhode Island. We cannot thank DEM, the Town of Narragansett, and all our partners and sponsors enough for coming together and making it a Summer Safe Ocean State!” 

“Summer is a special time in the Ocean State, with outstanding beaches and over 400 miles of coastline that draw people to the water,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “This event directly ties to DEM’s goals of increasing water safety awareness for people who want to cool off, explore, and enjoy our state’s beautiful waterbodies. We want everyone to have fun and be safe this summer.” 

The Summer Safe Ocean State event attained green event certification by reducing single-use plastic water bottles, bags, and straws, providing a reusable water bottle refilling hydration station, and going paper-free through the use of entirely digital advertising and registration forms. DEM strongly encourages all events to become green-certified.

Drowning deaths are on the rise in the United States, following decades of decline, according to a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vital Signs study. Over 4,500 people died due to drowning each year from 2020 - 2022, 500 more per year compared to 2019. The report found over half of adults in the United States have never taken a formal swimming lesson. The report also shows disparities when broken down by race and ethnicity with two out of three black adults and three out of four Hispanic adults reporting never having taken a swimming lesson. Making swimming lessons more accessible can help save lives. Responding to the accidental drownings that impact families every year in the Ocean State, DEM offered grants to communities and organizations that provide swimming lessons to children and teens to support additional participation in their programs. Award recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.

For inquiries about the event, please contact Brian Guadagno at bg@lifesafetysolutions.us. 

For more information on DEM programs and initiatives, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem) for timely updates.