File:LifeguardApplicants.jpg

Summary
A few dozen unidentified applicants prepare for their second swim in the Huntington Beach lifeguard test, Huntington Beach, California, 01 March, 2009.

The temperature of the water at the time of one of the region's earliest lifeguard tryouts was 56-degrees. The test consisted of a roughly 1,000-yard swim and a 500-yard ocean sprint, followed by a nearly mile-long run-swim-run. 156 showed up to take the test for the $16 an hour jobs; only 87 finished all three tryout events.

Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times, found at: Los Angeles Times, Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times.