Combat Challange - 2004

[parnell]

Hey guys, i've been asking around for info on the combat challange and i want to here from anyone who has ever been a competitor. My department is putting together a team for next year and any tips you could give us on what you did for training or anything would be great.
Thnx

[g-01]

They don't call it a Challenge for nothing!!!

We put a hastily assembled team in for the one locally - I missed it because I was away on vacation. :mad: But, from the reports I got from my team members............ CARDIO,,,,,,,, STRENGTH,,,,,, ENDURANCE! We did ok in the team event but got wiped in the individual event. Not one of our members finished (closest was five feet from the finish but nothing left). Most were in decent shape too but had not specifically trained for the intensity of the event.

Give it a go and have fun.

Report back on how you did and what you did to prepare


Scotty

[hotfire]

I competed in Individual comp. this year for the first time. My finish time was 02:09. It was one of the faster times for new competitors, however it is not easy. Training for combat is not like one may think. You have to combine cardio with strenght and endurance. Muscle endurance is the toughest. Just because you can run 10 miles doesn't mean you can finish this race. Adrenaline will help alot. There is a website called www.firefit.com. These are the people who run the Canadian Firefighter Combat Challenge. Great people. The website tells you all you need to know. Training is different. My #1 suggestion is if ou have access to a staircase with a min. of 60 stairs..... run it in your turn-out gear with 50lbs of hose over your shoulder often. This is the first element. You need to simulate the actual competition as closely as possible, but exceed all the weight requirements by a min of 15-20 lbs. I didn't have this opportunity.
It is an amazing feeling to run the course and finish. I was lucky and won my heat against my competitor but its not really about winning. You realize quick that if you finish or not you will have a new respect for the greatest career, and the greatest people in it. Best of luck.

[ruralfire]

My department has 4 or 5 guys who compete in the local events. Not really competitive, but its a good benchmark.

I competed in a demonstration event this past summer as part of a "sundown Saturday night" designed to bring people downtown on the weekends.

At any rate, we didn't have an official course to use.

Here were our subsitutions.

Stairs: we had those.

Hose lift: doubled the hose load, and did a horizontal pull (drag the hose)with a simulated hand rail (a horizontal bar welded to 2 supports). Imagine pulling the rope up between your legs.

Sledge sled: a 5 foot lenght of railway tie

Pylons: we had

Hose, pump, nozzel: had them too.

rescue randy: Had a life sized mach up made from coveralls, sand and creativity. I don't think he was quite 175 pounds, but he was more akward to hold than a regulation randy.


I don't think it was quite a grueling as the real thing, but it gave me a look into how intense the toughest 2 minutes in sports really is.

I'm training now for a couple of events this summer.

[kirk_fredericks]

I competed twice last year at the tender beginner age of 47. My times sucked, 4:19 and 4:45, but I did complete both; which was my goal. I'm hoping to do better this year.

We've got a very commited team. We have 11 going to the Halifax regional in August. My friend Kathy is in her 4th season, and is currently the fastest female volunteer in Canada.

We train hard, 5 or 6 days a week of cardio/weights/applied exercises. We do a lot of stairs, and have a fairly close simulation of the actual course we run every Sunday. Like one of the other replies said, our weights and distances are a bit higher than the actual values. Check our website, http://wolfville.firecombat.ca where there's plans for training aids we've built.

Good luck with your training.

[firemedicman]

i competed in 2002 and the best advise i can give you is practice running a set of stairs with your gear on around 50-60 steps.after a couple of days of this add a hose pack,then new elements like the rail tie with with slege-hammer-stand on it and hit it 8-10 times.keep adding things in to simulate actual events.The one thing that will help you the most is pacing yourself knowing when and when not to go hard don`t worry about your time just have a goal of finishing.its not about beating your opponent it`s about getting YOUR presonal best!!! :)
hope this helps

[SmokeEaterHFD]

I competed twice last year at the tender beginner age of 47. My times sucked, 4:19 and 4:45, but I did complete both; which was my goal. I'm hoping to do better this year.

We've got a very commited team. We have 11 going to the Halifax regional in August. My friend Kathy is in her 4th season, and is currently the fastest female volunteer in Canada.

We train hard, 5 or 6 days a week of cardio/weights/applied exercises. We do a lot of stairs, and have a fairly close simulation of the actual course we run every Sunday. Like one of the other replies said, our weights and distances are a bit higher than the actual values. Check our website, http://wolfville.firecombat.ca where there's plans for training aids we've built.

Good luck with your training.

Your team is really quick and congrats to Kathy, I have been up there a few times with Randal and i am interested in competeing next year but i hop its ok if we make use of your facilities for practice. I wasn't as fast some of othe others and defoinately not as fast as cathy. However i am working on it and i look forward to practicing with you guys again if you will allow it. Again congrats to your team for doing so well and we will hopefully be competing against you in the year to come , haha have a good one.

[kirk_fredericks]

You're more than welcome to train with us. I got a 3:31 in Fredericton last year, one second over qualifing time to advance to Nationals for the 40-50 YO group. I'm competing in the 50+ 'fogey' age group this year. Hoping to pull off a 2:30 - 3:00.

[firebabs222]

Kirk I know that you got it in ya, e-mail me and I will send you the program that I was on last year,. It really helped me to get over that hump. Say hi to Cathy for me.

[DoubleHelix]

Kirk I know that you got it in ya, e-mail me and I will send you the program that I was on last year,. It really helped me to get over that hump. Say hi to Cathy for me.

I volunteered at the Brampton challenge lastyear and your team was awesome. Seemed like you all were really tall too. Very polite guys too.

How old was the youngest guy?

[Punctualdeer]

Cardio his verry important. I try it 2 years ago at age of 52 and i stop at 12 feet from the line . Went out of Gaz, my leg had acid lactic in it and can't go on ferther. Had injure back for one mounth for my leg it took 3 mounths for the acid goes out.For running backward you may use a big bag of grain or moulded about 40 Kl. It's have the same diamiter of a person body

[firebabs222]

Thanks for the kind words Double Helix. The youngest guy on our team last year that was at Brampton was 26, the rest of us are old farts or on the brink of being old farts.