Firefighters
Turn up the Heat and Take Top Honours
LAC Hayden Kinzett
CPL McCarthy, LAC King, AC Wansink and LAC Kinzett. (AK-08-0182-01).
The Fire-fighter Combat Challenge (FCC) is heralded as ‘The Toughest Two Minutes in Sports’ and over the past 6 months Firefighters from Whenuapai Fire Flight have been pitting themselves against Firefighters from here in New Zealand but also the rest of the world. The Challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession’s rigors to the public. Wearing “full bunker gear” and Breathing Apparatus, pairs of competitors simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-storey tower, hoisting a 19kg hose to the top, chopping a 72 kg steel beam, a slalom run, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 82kg ‘victim’ as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.
Chopping a 72kg beam. (WN-08-0037-64).
In early November I had the opportunity to compete at the 16th World Firefighter Combat Challenge held in Las Vegas, USA. This was an amazing experience and gave me the chance to increase my knowledge and techniques for this challenging sport. While there I ran a 2.09.85 which placed me 103rd in the world. Not a bad effort for someone who has only ever run the course twice. I came away from this trip with new training techniques which were swiftly employed for our team in the lead-up to the Regional FCC held in Auckland on December 1st. The Team of me, SGT Aaron Grocott, CPL Caleb McCarthy, LAC Doug King and AC Mick Wansink took on 100 other Firefighters from the top half of the North Island. The individual runs saw Aaron run a 3.03.00, Mick 2.48.70, Doug a 2.32.60, Caleb 2.12.40 and myself a 2.05.30, all personal bests. The tandem runs, where 2 team members run half the course each, were a knock out round and Caleb and myself placed 3rd overall with a time of 1.47.80. The 4-man relay, where I start with the tower climb and hose haul, Doug races to the bottom and completes the chopping simulator, Mick runs the slalom and hose drag and Caleb finishes with the dummy drag, ran a very quick 1.33.70 and taking top honours had us qualify for the National FCC in March this year in Relay, Tandems, and Doug, Caleb and myself in Individuals.
Dragging a lifelike 82 kg ‘victim’. (WN-08-0037-66).
Nationals were held in sunny Nelson and the day saw some very fast times run. The morning started with individual, tandem and relay heats, with the top 50 per cent in each category going through to the finals in the afternoon. The first of the RNZAF team to race was Caleb, and giving it everything he had ran a very impressive 1.57.67 putting him 4th for the heats. Doug took on the course next and running a 2.26.33 was a personal best but didn’t quite get him through to the finals. I ran in the last race of the morning against SSGT Bill Gates, USAF (yes that is his real name). Bill was over to give tips on the course and was well versed to give advice after placing 8th at World Challenge XIV last year. It was a very hard race which only just saw me beat Bill by 1 second with a 1.45.68. We then had to race in the Relay heats and crossing the line in 1.50.79 had us through to the finals. With the heat of the Tasman sun beating down, we squared off against Coromandel in the Relay final and opening up a big lead from the start saw a respectable time of 1.39.98 posted, but unfortunately not fast enough to take the Gold medal giving us the Silver instead. Still a good effort. Caleb ran a valiant individual run in the finals against last years National Champion Jarad Cowie of Auckland Fire Service, and posting a quick 2.04.52 placed him 7th overall.
The slalom run done in full gear. (WN-08-0037-65).
The last run of the day was me against Doug Kinsella of Mangere, who I raced in the final at the Auckland Regionals. It was a fierce battle to the end and giving it everything I had left in the tank ran the new national record of 1.45.31, and became the National Combat Challenge Champion. This gives me a place in the New Zealand team to compete in World Challenge XVII in Las Vegas in November this year and we will also be taking our 4 person relay team of Caleb, Doug and Mick to compete at worlds. I’d like to thank my team for the effort put in at trainings and at the challenges and we would also like to thank Whenuapai Fire Flight for the support for us all. This competition is not only challenging but it is also a lot of fun and we encourage all NZDF Firefighters to give it a go.