SPORTS
Hot times at the Firefighters Combat Challenge
«kaiser», an iron block fitted on a friction slide. The idea is to knock the block from one end of the slide to the other as fast as possible. It takes more than one hit with the hammer to move the block all the way back, demonstrating how strong a firefighter must be to break down doors or clear away obstacles trapping people inside a burning building. Next comes a short obstacle course run around hydrant-shaped pylons and then grabbing a live full-pressure hose and drag- ging it straight back to a bullseye target near the scaffold.The intent here is to aim straight the water jetting out of the pressure hose. Some spectators sitting close bymay enjoy a little refreshing backspray during this event. Last is the «dummy drag», which involves hoisting a 180-pound deadweight dummy under the arms and dragging him or her the length of the competition ground to the finish line, which is right beside a large infla- tablemattress for firefighters to collapse onto at the end. Because anyone taking part in the Combat Challenge does so wearing full «bunker» gear, from boots to helmet and a face mask and oxygen tank. Firefighter Stéphane Séguin is the ramrod behind this year’s Embrun Firefighters Com- bat Challenge. He grins at the thought of watching his fellow firefighters sweat it out under the sun, but notes that it is all in good fun because it’s to entertain residents and visitors to Embrun during SummerFest. «It’s more of a family day event today.»
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
Saturday saw perfect weekend weather for getting out and about and enjoying the sunshine.Thoughmaybe the couple dozen firefighters gathered outside the Embrun Arena might have wished for some cloud cover and cool breezes as they suited up in full “bunker” gear and prepared to race through the Combat Challenge as part of this year’s SummerFest. The Combat Challenge is a series of speed, strength, and skill exercises that are used at many fire stations as both a training programand, when a station stages a recruit- ment drive, amethod of showing would-be firefighters just how rigourous the job can be. The Combat Challenge began in 1975 as part of a physical skills and performance research project at the University of Maryland’s Sports Medicine Centre. It became an official sport, the firefighters’ equivalent of a pentathlon, in 1991 and has spread all over the world with national and international competitions every year. Denis Leduc is a regular competitor in Combat Challenges, both at home in Eastern Ontario and across Canada, including the nationals and a couple of times at theWorld Combat Challenge.The federal civil servant is a 17-year veteran volunteer fireman, for- merly working in Ottawa but now amember of the Lanark-Highlands department. Leduc
Rockland’s JonathanMcNaught drags a heavy length of fire hose past a cheering crowd.
is in his early 50s but could pass without any trouble for a man in his 30s. He is that fit, and it is all thanks to 15 years of training as a firefighter and competing several times a year in Combat Challenges. «I train five times a week,» he said, smi- ling. «For me, it’s a reason to keep in shape. It’s also fun to meet the folks from all the stations.» The five events in the Combat Challenge include carrying a 40-pound coil of hose up several flights of stairs on a scaffold, then hoisting up by hand another coil of hose
attached to a rope to the top of the scaffold. Firefighters can run up the stairs two at a time if they want, carrying the first coil of hose. But coming down the stairs, they have to take the steps one at a time or suffer a five- second penalty on their time for each stair theymiss.The time penalty emphasizes the safety aspect of being a firefighter, who has to rush into danger but also has to be careful inside of a burning building. After coming down the scaffold, the firefighter in the Combat Challenge grabs a sledgehammer and whacks away at the
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