Firefighters take the Challenge
Course, heat test stamina, willpower in 'toughest 2 minutes in sports'
Firefighters carry 42-pound bundles of fire hose up a five-story tower at the beginning of the Firefighter Combat Challenge event that continues today on Kanawha Boulevard at Haddad Riverfront Park.
By Rick Steelhammer
Vic Burkhammer
Charleston kicked off three days of free sports action on Friday downtown Sports Fest. Volleyball, Magic Island, 11 a.m.; midday, jet skis on the Kanawha. At 3:30 p.m., the hottest time of the day, at Haddad Riverfront Park, firefighters in full working uniforms competed in the Firefighter Challenge, a tough obstacle course that tests skills firefighters use in the line of action
CHARLESTON, W.Va. What started out as a firefighters' fitness program funded through a Federal Emergency Management Administration grant has become an international competition, with its championship events covered by cable sports networks like ESPN and Versus.
"When we put this together back in 1976, I had no expectation of it becoming an entertainment property," said Dr. Paul O. Davis of Burtonsville, Md., the sport's founder. "I guess it was serendipitous, the way it turned out."
Davis was in Charleston on Friday as the Firefighter Combat Challenge made its 15th stop on its 22-stop circuit in 2010. The event was part of the city's SportsFest program on Kanawha Boulevard and at Haddad Riverfront Park.
Davis, a physiologist who helps develop fitness programs for such agencies as the U.S. Border Patrol and the FBI, is president of On Target Communications, the company that produces the Firefighter Combat Challenge, a sport spawned by the training program he developed 34 years ago.
Firefighters participating in the event don 50 to 60 pounds of protective gear (including breathing apparatuses and air tanks), grab 42-pound bundles of hose and race side-by-side up parallel stairways to the top of a five-story scaffolding structure.
Once at the top, they grab ropes and hoist from the ground an additional 42 pounds of hoses, and then race down the stairs.
But that's just a drop of sweat in the bucket, compared with what remains before crossing the finish line.
Back on the ground, competitors simulate hacking through a floor or wall by pounding a 160-pound steel sled down a five-foot rail, using a nine-pound mallet. When that's done, there's a slalom course to be run, a firehose to be dragged 75 feet, a target to be hit with water from the hose, and a 175-pound dummy to be dragged 100 feet.
The event's website describes the Firefighter Challenge as "the toughest two minutes in sports." Only the most elite competitors make it to the finish line in two minutes or less.
"When we first started out, we wondered if it was possible to do it in under two minutes," said Davis. "It took a few years for it to happen, but it did. Since then, the times have improved insanely."
The current record for the event is 1 minute 19 seconds.
Firefighters competing Friday represented fire departments in Charleston, Huntington and Buckhannon, as well as Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Palm Beach County, Fla.; Clearwater, Fla.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Clayton County, Ga.; Memphis, Tenn.; Montgomery County, Md.; Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Fairborn, Ohio; and several other locations throughout the region.
During Friday's event, about one-third of all entrants were competing for the first time, while others, like Dwayne Harris of the Myrtle Beach Fire Department, have competed for several years, hitting several events annually.
"We train for it all year round," said Harris, now in his third year of competition, as he waited his turn on the course. "You can't really train specifically for this, although we do have a tower nearby where we go to run stairs. You work on aerobics and strength."
"Your legs feel like rubber bands coming off that tower," said Capt. Eddie Moore of the Charleston Fire Department, who gave the event a try when the Firefighter Combat Challenge debuted in Charleston last year. "Workouts that improve your cardio and strengthen your legs help. We run the tower at Station 2."
Moore, 50, who finished in 3 minutes 38 seconds last year, hoped to break the 3-minute mark during Friday's competition.
"This stuff helps keep me young," he said.
Firefighter Combat Challenge competition today will include tandem and team events, which Davis said are the sports showcase events. Competition will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Kanawha Boulevard, fronting Haddad Riverfront Park.
From Charleston, the Challenge will move on to Vail, Colo., Omaha, Neb., and other points before the world championships take place in November in Myrtle Beach.
"In some ways, the sport is still in its infancy," said Davis. "We have a European championship, in which seven or eight countries compete, and we're hoping to line up a series in China."
Davis said his biggest gratification from the event comes from firefighters who have told him that their training and competition might have helped them save lives and get themselves out of dangerous situations.
"These guys put it all on the line," he said, "and what other group of public employees will you see out here busting their butts on their time off?"
The city's SportsFest program includes competition in pro beach volleyball and Jet Ski racing in and around Magic Island and Haddad Riverfront Park.
Today's events include EVP "Rocks the River" pro beach volleyball from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Magic Island and Toyota Governor's Cup Pro Jet Ski Racing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., also at Magic Island.
On Sunday, beach volleyball continues from 8 a.m. to noon, followed by beach wrestling from 2 to 5 p.m., both at Magic Island. Toyota Governor's Cup racing will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169.