Safety Is Our First Concern: Bringing Rescue Randy Home

A Proper Dummy Drag

We would like everyone who steps out on the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge course to have a positive experience. By this, we mean finishing under your own power with something left in the gas tank. 

The only shortcut in the Challenge is preparation. Our website is replete with a host of training programs. One of the most important considerations is a realistic finish time. Coming in with a preconceived time, without the parallel experience is not the best way to attack the course. 

Knowing your limitations and running your own race are very important considerations. Oftentimes, the competitive impulse kicks in and you’ve determined that the guy in the next chute will never beat you to the top of the tower. The problem here is that finish line is behind you, not the top of the stairs and you have no idea of the capabilities of your opponent. 

When guys start having problems, it’s the responsibility of the lane grader to protect you from yourself. Having watched several thousand races, these guys are pretty astute at knowing who’s outside of their comfort zone. The crowd loves to extend their sympathy and energy and this now creates an environment that can exacerbate the problem. I mean, some of our competitors would seemingly rather die that quit. And we don’t want that to happen. 

There is a Six Minute Rule, meaning, we’ll terminate your run if you’re not done in 6. But, that’s pretty generous and lacks precision as to the metabolic status of the racer. So, here’s some Guidelines for our officials as to when to pull the plug. 

1. Competitor has repeatedly dropped the dummy

2. It’s 5:00 elapsed time and the halfway point on the dummy drag has not been reached

3. There’s no forward progress being made

We want to intervene at the point where recovery can take place with the Competitor walking off the course under their own power. 

A few words about recovery:

No matter how inviting are those chairs in the rehab area, resist sitting down. 

Drink only water within 20 minutes of competing- unless you want to see that sports drink again.

The Pit Crew will assist in getting your bunkers off. 

Walk briskly after running. The faster you move, the faster you’ll recover.

If you can’t keep fluid down, you’ll need an I.V.

We don’t want anyone leaving until they can produce urine. 

For any first-timer that does not finish, we’ll extend a 50% discount on the next event in which they compete.