SURFERS have been showing off their lifesaving skills at a national competition held for the first time in Dorset.

Hundreds of people from around the country are taking part in the National Surf Championships, hosted by the Branksome Chine Surf Life Saving Club.

The competition is taking place over several days and is divided into several categories, with children as young as seven years old participating.

The championships kicked off on Saturday with a 1km run on the beach. A surf race followed, which saw competitors run into the sea and swim around a course designated by buoys before returning to shore.

There were also beach sprints, board races and rescues, and relays involving surf skis.

Mark Dixon, chairman of Branksome Chine Surf Life Saving Club, said the competition was not just about demonstrating fitness levels but also about the valuable lifesaving skills learned at the club and others like it across the country.

“It’s not all about being able to swim and to compete. That’s one side of it. The actual lifesaving, the first aid ¬- those things have got to go in tandem.

“The sport side of surf lifesaving has only come from surf lifesavers wanting to show their fitness, their prowess on the beach, and their skills in the surf. The focus is the safety, the training and the rescue skills.”

Mark said the club had “grown dramatically” over the last few years, however he is hoping the national championships, which finish on Saturday with the ‘nippers’ event, will help raise the club’s profile with the public.

The club was founded in 1990 and now has hundreds of members ranging in age from eight years old to 80.

“As a club we’ve got good numbers, what we don’t have at the moment is good community engagement – making the public aware we exist, what we do, why we’re important to the community,” he said.

“We’ve introduced recently an open water safety awareness course, which we picked up a Postcode Lottery grant for. And we support the RNLI by training lifeguards.

“We are 100 cent volunteer-run. The culmination of this event, hopefully, will be some good money for the club.”

Mark added the club was currently in talks with the council over building a new clubhouse at Branksome Chine.

The club is also set to host next year’s national championships.