What's With San Diego?

Two years ago, we started an initiative to put the Challenge on the weather deck of the USS Midway. In furtherance of that objective, Chuck DeGrandpre and Bill Alexander made two trips to San Diego and conducted several meetings with the Burn Foundation as well as the organization that manages the Midway. Things were on track and we had indicated that San Diego would be our destination. The terms of the contract had been negotiated and was awaiting ratification.

 

Then, the engineering department asked if we could punt this to next year. Keep in mind that we had started with an objective of 2011 and now were being asked to move the event to 2013. We felt that we had exhausted all remedies in attempting to bring some structure to what would have been a very complicated maneuver. So, in deference to our West Coast teams, we also felt strongly that we needed to be in California as originally planned. So several months ago, we started our search for an alternative venue.

 

Our short list of venues numbered in single digits. Each of these locations were presented with the specifications necessary to run a quality event. Hundreds of hours have been spent, not just by us, but Walt White, Cliff Walker and Bob Pfohl. At first, the US Navy looked to be the solution and we were well on our way to securing a venue when a conflict with the change of command ceremony knocked that one out and set us back another several weeks. 

 

We apologize for this frustrating and unfortunate set of circumstances. Nearly every hour of Rob Alesbury's time has been on the phone, trying to move this project along. As of this writing, we believe that we are close to making an announcement of a San Diego venue. The instant that we can confirm the location, we will announce it here on the Hot News. Meanwhile, special thanks to Bob Pfohl, Cliff Walker and Walt White for their tireless volunteer efforts. Without guys like them, we couldn’t do this.

Best Combat Challenge Tee Shirt Yet

Since it's inception nearly 22 years ago, there's probably 100,000 Challenge tees out there. I wanted to share this special one- because it's one of the most creative that I've seen. It was the competitor tee from Berlin week before last. Here's the backside:

Competitor Tee: Back

 Now, here's the good part:

Unknown German Proverb

The translation goes like this: 

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up and she knows she needs to be quicker than the fastest lion or she will die. 

Every morning, a lion wakes up and knows that he will have to overtake the gazelle or he will starve. 

When the sun comes up, it does not matter if whether you're the lion or the gazelle, you better be training!

Imagine if...

The Team Landon in Berlin

Over twenty years ago, I was told by a physician friend of the daily fitness test taken by every Parisian firefighter. I couldn't independently verify this- at least until this week. But it's true. 

I met a contingent of 10 Parisian firefighters at the Berlin Firefighter Combat Challenge. They invited me to visit their station, which I did last Monday (9,10.12). 

It took a couple of Metro trains and some walking, but I arrived at the Landon station, just as Google Earth had directed. The station captain introduced himself and provided a tour of the fire house. The building was huge, with a full galley, training room, spacious engine bay and a well-equiped workout room. We discussed work schedules and shifts and the usual casual conversation that fills the voids when visiting firehouses.

At the Paris, France Chateau Landon Fire Station

But what I really wanted to know was about the mandatory daily fitness test that my physician friend had told me about over two decades ago. Yep; absolutely. And a demonstration was ordered. Affixed to the wall at about 8 feet is a 1.5" thick shelf about 24" deep, held in place with a set of braces.  The firefighter, wearing full bunkers, (unlike the photo) grasps the edge of the shelf and pulls himself up and onto the shelf. That's it. Just that simple. 

Start Position for the Ledge Muscle Up

Finish Position: Ledge Muscle Up

If you can't do that, you don't ride the apparatus that day, or any day until you can pass the daily fitness test. I don't know what percentage of US firefighters that would be capable of passing this simple test. I'm pretty sure everyone who participates in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge can. But think about it. What could be a simpler field test of muscular fitness than the ability to move your own body weight (and bunker gear- absent SCBA) to a ledge?

Imagine the huge economic savings in orthopedic injuries and reduced metabolic diseases like diabetes if we could boast this level of fitness for an elite class of firefighters. Then certainly, "Everyone would be going home."

If you'd like to see a YouTube video version, click here:

Click here to see the video:

Berlin Calling...

The 6th Annual Berlin Firefighter Combat Challenge was held this past week on Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th at the historic site of the Kaiser Welhelm Memorial Church. Several months earlier, in a matter of four minutes the on line registration had filled with over 300 participating firefighters from around Europe. This presented a logistical challenge and stretches the boundaries for exactly how many participants can realistically expect to earn a birth at the event. 

Mike Weikamm, the organizer of the event, with the support of Team Berlin did an admirable job of managing the more than 17 hours of competition. In one sense, this is a nice problem. We realize that in the out years, we're going to hold more regional events and eliminations in our quest to crown a European champion. If you would have had the opportunity to have attended this momentous event, you would have felt very much at home. Firefighters around the globe are cut from the same bolt of cloth. 

However, a couple of behaviors are rarely witnessed at US events: lighting up a cigarette immediately after a run, or handing a buddy a beer for fluid replacement. Otherwise, cheering on each other and celebrating PRs with high-fives was very much in evidence. 

I'm amazed at how fast things have progressed since the fairly humble start at Potsdamer Platz a very short six years ago. You can tell that the guys have been studying the enormous number of YouTube videos. Technique is becoming very important as is specificity of training. Competitors have familiarized themselves the the World Record run of Bob Russell (1:19) as well as the nuances of Brandon Cunningham. 

A good dozen or so of the Competitors went sub 2:00. The question typically asked is how valid are these times? Pretty close. The hose drag with a significantly smaller diameter  and weight is easier. The tower, constructed of scaffolding will always be harder. It's very stable, but the railings act as brakes. The timing system precisely follows the rules. The Keiser Force Machine, Rescue Randy, Saloon Doors and Target are spot on. 

The playing surface was perhaps a bit more slippery than asphalt when wet, but all in all, the Berliner Feuerwehr has done an absolutely excellent job of replication down to the red and blue carpets. The photos here, as well as on Facebook do an excellent job of capturing the ambiance. 

I'll have a few more posts on the subject of our European events over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned. 

Rookie of the Year Criteria & New Award

To date we have not had a formal set of criteria for the Rookie of the Year. Subsequently, the Awards Committee has established that the term “Rookie” applies to an individual who runs the full Challenge course for the first time in that year- as opposed to participating as a tandem or relay team member in that year or any prior year.

The award is not based solely on the fastest time, but includes other factors including numbers of runs, percent of improvement, sportsmanship and dedication to the sport and the fire service. In other words, a person who exemplifies the spirit of the Challenge.

Beginning this season, we are proud to announce the Rookie of the Year Award will be known as the Lion- PJ Bean Rookie of the Year Award.

PJ Bean, 29, was a firefighter and paramedic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who tragically drowned in Memorial Creek in Madison, South Dakota in May of 2012. He was in Madison visiting family over the weekend and celebrating his brother's graduation from Dakota State University.

In 2011, Bean was a competitor in the Challenge on Team Tuscaloosa. Since his death, his teammates have memorialized Bean by placing stickers on their helmets, and renaming their team "Tuscaloosa Running for PJ."

Born in Mitchell, South Dakota, his family moved to Alaska when he was very young, where he studied at the University of Alaska, before moving to Alabama. His goal was to be a paramedic on the SWAT team, and he was recently accepted into the University of South Dakota, where he could earn a degree to get him closer to his SWAT paramedic goal. In August of 2012, he was to move to South Dakota.

Along with being awarded a life-saving medal in 2009, Bean was present and aided in responding to the devestating tornado that ravaged Tuscaloosa in April 2011.

The Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge is extremely proud to name our Rookie of the Year Award after PJ Bean, as a former member of our community. He was a brilliant example of a great firefighter, and a model for the qualities that make for a great Challenge competitor.

This Just In....

Lots of stuff to cover in this BlogSpot, so hang on.

1. US Nationals: short story, we tried mightily to make the USS Midway work. Two planning meetings, in San Diego with the engineering department and a date identified. A contract was created and it started through channels without any indication of any issues. Then, before the contract was executed, the Midway Foundation wanted to punt this to next year. The bottom line is it’s just too hard. Sounded good in theory, but in reality, not going to happen, ever. So, we’re scrambling. Walt White has been knocking on doors as has Cliff Walker and Bob Pfohl. I believe we’ll have a destination for you soon. Out of respect for our West Coast competitors, we want to put this on in California- somewhere. My apologies for this taking so long. Because it looked like it was a lock after our second meeting, we did not build out a contingency plan. Some things are just beyond your control. 

Windsor (aka Parker Construction) is working on Lyrics!

2. Canadian National Anthem: in our survey, one of our Canadians brought to our attention that we did not play their national anthem when a team came south of the border. Following the protocol of MLB, the National Anthem of the home team is played- only. For sure, we can’t do this at the World Championships when we have nine countries represented. But, it will be our policy to recognize any Canadian at a US event by playing O Canada! Last week, I offered Windsor the privilege of singing the lyrics at the opening ceremony. They said that they’d pass; but, they mentioned that the Fire Department had a recording of some of their firefighters singing the anthem. We’d like to get that in an M3! 

3. Survey Monkey: Speaking of which, I have a lot of content for upcoming Blogs from the robust nature of comments we’ve been getting from the survey. All of these comments are appreciated, even the criticisms. After all, that’s how we improve our customer service. Trying to communicate with the constituents of the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge is like hitting a moving target. We try to disseminate timely information at the event. But that’s only good for who’s there. The Hot News is supposed to be that: Hot News. But do people read it? Don’t know. One thought was to send a short update to every email of record. Not that hard, assuming that people actually fill in the fields when they check in. We don’t want a repeat of a situation a few years back when a team showed up for the final day of racing, having assumed that they had a bye. Holy cow. 

4. Speaking of Checking In: We received some complaints in the Survey that “I’ve not received my participation certificate.” We’re pretty good, but we can’t divine mailing addressed on the basis of a name only. If you haven’t received your certificate, send us an email, with your mailing address- and we’ll get it out to you. I can’t stress enough the frustration of attempting to track down a firefighter without a cell phone number of email address. Pretend that you won the lottery and you want us to mail you the check. One more thing: we hate screwing up the pronunciation of people’s names. There’s a place to enter: “How do you pronounce your name?” Do the best job you can to spell your last name phonetically. Also, it won’t hurt to put something down about yourself. I jokingly said, we should default the field to “alleged sex offender” and if you enter nothing, that would be Mike’s comments- but it’s only alleged. 

And Disaster Strikes Again

Are we snake bit or what? I described our deluge in Montgomery; that cost us a mixer and the Sennheiser wireless microphone- and a tent. In Sandusky, we had micro switches and relays in the Keiser and the timing system that had to be replaced. So, when we pulled into Fishers, we checked the weather and were pleased to see that there was no storm activity pending- at least until later Saturday afternoon. 

But disaster came from an unexpected quarter: a medivac helicopter that was to be on display at the venue- came in on a low pass just above the tree line and literally blew the course away. The accompanying photo graphically demonstrates the scope of the damage. The finish line, fabricated from schedule 40 aluminum tubing was broken in two places. The clocks crashed to the ground, ripping the connecting cables from their sockets. The main control cable was likewise ripped. 

The thresholds were flipped and their connects trashed. Chief Steve Orusa suggested  that we postponed the day’s races. But Chuck DeGrandpre, in his characteristic, can-do manner set our crack road crew in motion to begin the repair process. Clint Lamb, Roger Shuttlesworth and Bill Alexander each took on a project.  In a few short hours, we had the timing system functioning, the finish line was welded with the assistance of the Town of Fishers Public Works Department welder. 

I can’t say enough about the ability of our Road Crew to rebound after what seems to be an unceasing string of adversities. Now, with all this bad luck behind us, let’s hope for clear sailing for the balance of the season.