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Challenge News: Firefighter Combat Challenge has strong start
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On Your Mark … Firefighter Combat Challenge has strong start
Story & Photos by Michael DeGrandpre
Tour 2010 is off to a tenacious start, as each of the first four events of the Firefighter Combat Challenge’s 19th season has showcased the participants’ strength and their dedication to the fire service.
Since mid-April, the Challenge has rolled into four states—Ohio, Alabama, Massachusetts and Florida—setting up shop and producing successful events.
The kick-off event in Ohio, our 313th Challenge, saw Darren Hillman of Windsor Team Parker Construction (Ontario) spending some quality time on the award podium, as he won the Overall Top Male and Over-40 category, and placed in the finals of both the relay event and the co-ed tandem event. Run Faster Omaha was also well represented, taking up three of the top 10 individual spots.
The elite Lion’s Den, a Challenge program sponsored by Lion Apparel to recognize the fastest on the course, has been increasing in pride. Dan Korte earned a spot in Ohio, posting a time of 1:39.38. Korte also placed first in Albertville, Ala., helping his team, Fairfield Fire, place top on the list of teams for the event. Coming in second place in Alabama was Team Clayton County (Ga.).
Members from Team Fairfield Fire (Ohio), Team Clayton County (Ga.) and Team ButlerTech Fire Instructors (Ohio) managed to take seven of the top 10 individual spots in the recently devastated tornado region of Alabama. ButlerTech also placed a team member at the top in the Over 40 relay, while Team Clayton County won by almost 10 seconds in the final round of the relay event, with a time of 1:16.29.
Massachusetts was a mixed-bag of geographical representatives and results, with several departments making an appearance in the top 10. Ryan Hallam from Fredericton Goodlife Fitness (New Brunswick) took home the top individual position as well as a first-place medal in the team relay competition. Luc Hamel (Quebec) and Jacques Breton (Quebec) took home the Over-40 and Over-50 top prizes, respectively, proving that age has nothing to do with physical ability.
Shooting down to Florida, Brandon Cunningham (from Georgia), set the standard again, placing first with a time of 1:31.44 in the individuals. He was followed by Mackenzie Briggs from Palm Beach County (Fla). But it was Team Clayton County (Ga.) that ranked first as a team and first in the male relay finals. The top three other team spots were occupied by Floridians.
The female firefighters were exceptionally well represented in Florida, with Heidi Charest taking the top spot in the 2-day event. The team Hot Mess! took the gold in the female team relay, which included Charest and teammates Heather Callender and Stacy Strong.
The 20th season of the Firefighter Combat Challenge features some changes to the course. Leaving behind the chance for human error, the Challenge has fabricated a new drag-race-style start system, where competitors are cued with both audio and visual signals. Thus, the entire timing process from start to finish is completely automated and accurate to the hundredth of a second.
Tour 2010 will find the Challenge in more than 23 locations around the country, as it will celebrate 333 events in the company’s history, culminating at the World Challenge XIX in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in November.
Michael DeGrandpre hails from Maine, and has recently joined the Firefighter Combat Challenge, covering the season events as the staff photographer and videographer.
Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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On Your Mark … Firefighter Combat Challenge has strong start
Story & Photos by Michael DeGrandpre
Since mid-April, the Challenge has rolled into four states—Ohio, Alabama, Massachusetts and Florida—setting up shop and producing successful events.
The kick-off event in Ohio, our 313th Challenge, saw Darren Hillman of Windsor Team Parker Construction (Ontario) spending some quality time on the award podium, as he won the Overall Top Male and Over-40 category, and placed in the finals of both the relay event and the co-ed tandem event. Run Faster Omaha was also well represented, taking up three of the top 10 individual spots.
The elite Lion’s Den, a Challenge program sponsored by Lion Apparel to recognize the fastest on the course, has been increasing in pride. Dan Korte earned a spot in Ohio, posting a time of 1:39.38. Korte also placed first in Albertville, Ala., helping his team, Fairfield Fire, place top on the list of teams for the event. Coming in second place in Alabama was Team Clayton County (Ga.).
Members from Team Fairfield Fire (Ohio), Team Clayton County (Ga.) and Team ButlerTech Fire Instructors (Ohio) managed to take seven of the top 10 individual spots in the recently devastated tornado region of Alabama. ButlerTech also placed a team member at the top in the Over 40 relay, while Team Clayton County won by almost 10 seconds in the final round of the relay event, with a time of 1:16.29.
Massachusetts was a mixed-bag of geographical representatives and results, with several departments making an appearance in the top 10. Ryan Hallam from Fredericton Goodlife Fitness (New Brunswick) took home the top individual position as well as a first-place medal in the team relay competition. Luc Hamel (Quebec) and Jacques Breton (Quebec) took home the Over-40 and Over-50 top prizes, respectively, proving that age has nothing to do with physical ability.
Shooting down to Florida, Brandon Cunningham (from Georgia), set the standard again, placing first with a time of 1:31.44 in the individuals. He was followed by Mackenzie Briggs from Palm Beach County (Fla). But it was Team Clayton County (Ga.) that ranked first as a team and first in the male relay finals. The top three other team spots were occupied by Floridians.
The female firefighters were exceptionally well represented in Florida, with Heidi Charest taking the top spot in the 2-day event. The team Hot Mess! took the gold in the female team relay, which included Charest and teammates Heather Callender and Stacy Strong.
The 20th season of the Firefighter Combat Challenge features some changes to the course. Leaving behind the chance for human error, the Challenge has fabricated a new drag-race-style start system, where competitors are cued with both audio and visual signals. Thus, the entire timing process from start to finish is completely automated and accurate to the hundredth of a second.
Tour 2010 will find the Challenge in more than 23 locations around the country, as it will celebrate 333 events in the company’s history, culminating at the World Challenge XIX in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in November.
Michael DeGrandpre hails from Maine, and has recently joined the Firefighter Combat Challenge, covering the season events as the staff photographer and videographer.
Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
SUBSCRIBE to FIRERESCUE
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