Weblog Entry 10.8.06

Jamie was in a Firefighter Combat Challenge last weekend in Evansville, IN. I tagged along to see what it was all about. Amazing what these guys did in under 2 minutes.

They say it is the 'toughest 2 min. in sports'.

They run an obstacle course that is transported to various locations around the country for these competitions. The course consists of running up 6 flights of stairs (with all of their gear on) carrying a hose weighing 42lbs. At the top of the 'Tower', they have to pull another hose weighing 42lbs up the 6 flights. Then they run back down. They hit a 'chopping simulator' that moves a 160lb steel beam a distance of 5 ft. Then they run the hydrants in a 140ft slalom, pull a charged hose back through the center of the slalom course and spray a target.

The last 'event' is pulling a 180lb mannequin a distance of 10o'. This simulates a victim resue.

Whew! That was a lot of writing....

And did I mention that this all has to be done in UNDER 2 min?

I'm not sure I could have made it up the 6 flights of stairs with all of that weight in under 5 min.

Anyway ... here a few shots from the day.

Ready, set ...

The Tower.

A couple of the guys pulling up the hose up the 6 flights ...

Jamie running the hydrants.

This is where they have to hit a target with a stream of water. Now this shot would have been AWESOME, had this person not stuck there arm in the middle of it. Ugh! Right under the hand, you can see the target just getting the first burst of water.

This is the one event that doesn't look nearly as hard as it really is...

The guys are all crowded around, encouraging each other to GO GO GO.

Loved this team's helmets.

Not all of the teams were able to complete the course in the 2 min, but the teams that did, get to go to Las Vegas for the National Championship in Nov.

Jamie's team? They are IN!

You can read more about the challenge here.