More than 200 junior lifeguards from around the state will compete Saturday at the 'ewa end of Ala Moana Beach Park.

The state Junior Lifeguard Championships will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The competition's five events are the 1000-meter beach run, beach flags, run-swim-run, paddleboard relay and a 200-meter swim, according to a press release from the Honolulu Emergency Services Department.

Participants will compete in individual and team events, and in two age groups, 13-14 and 15-17.

The event is free and open to the public.

"It provides an opportunity for the participants to demonstrate their newly acquired skills and showcase why the Hawai'i Junior Lifeguard Program is respected world-wide," Mayor Mufi Hanneman said in a press release.

The program is supported by the city's Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division and by the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association.

"For more than 15 years this program has not only been teaching the teens of O'ahu about ocean safety but giving them a safe and productive way to spend their summer," said Emergency Services Department director Elizabeth Char.