Asbury’s Ryan Matthews hits the water
First finisher at Sea Paddle NYC on Friday, scores win at lifeguard nationals week earlier
It’s been a good couple of weeks for Asbury Park’s Ryan Matthews.
On Friday, Matthews, 29, was the top finisher in the Sea Paddle NYC 26-mile event around Manhattan — the first time he’d ever done the course. The weekend before, Matthews successfully defended his national title in the board rescue event at the United States Lifeguard Association (USLA) national competition in Cape May.
Matthews, a Rumson native who’s currently a Belmar lifeguard, has competed in the USLA nationals since he was 14. His partner in the two-man board rescue event was Avon’s Matt Nunnally, a lifeguard in Bradley Beach. Nunnally came in first overall at this year’s USLA nationals, and Matthews ranked third.
As for the Sea Paddle NYC event, Matthews circumnavigated Manhattan in 4 hours and 15 minutes.
“It was brutal. It was painful. It was like the pain was unimaginable,” said Matthews, pictured at top with girlfriend Kelley Conrey, 26, who also competed in this year’s lifeguard nationals. Conrey of Asbury Park was on a team ranked 10th nationally in the 100 meter relay race.
Sea Paddle NYC raises money for various charities by participants getting people to sponsor them. According to the event website, Matthews so far has raised $2,114. Paddlers in the event either stand up or paddle in a prone position on their knees. Matthews completed the course in the prone position.
Matthews was a Division I swimmer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He says he’s been a surfer all his life, and in the waves “every day.”
He said the USLA nationals event alternates between both coasts. Over the years, Matthews has attended the competitions in such places as South Carolina, Virginia Beach, Huntington Beach, Manhattan Beach and Daytona Beach.
In the summer, he works a couple of jobs including lifeguarding and most recently as a bartender at Watermark on the Asbury boardwalk. In the offseason, Matthews says he “tends to work a couple days a week and train.”
