| Editor’s note: For more details on the Firefighter Combat Challenge, and competition dates, check out FireRescue1’s special feature from last month on the event. |
By Joanie Baker
Messenger-Inquirer
Copyright 2007 Messenger-Inquirer
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
OWENSBORO, Ky. — When Byron McDonald first decided to enter the Firefighter Combat Challenge four years ago, he thought he’d just give the course a trial run in Owensboro because it seemed so easy.
First there were the five flights of stairs carrying a 45-pound bundle of hose.
Not that bad.
Then he hoisted a 42-pound hose doughnut up to the top of the tower by rope.
All in a day’s work.
McDonald ran down the stairs, beat a 165-pound metal slide five feet with a sledge hammer, ran 90 feet through zig-zagged fire hydrants, dragged a hose full of water 75 feet and then pulled a 175-pound life-size dummy across 100 feet of asphalt.
All while wearing an air pack and bunker gear.
“Sometimes I wonder why I do this,” McDonald said between breaths as he practiced dragging a dummy in 85-degree sunshine Tuesday. "... The first time we did this at the training tower, I don’t think any of us made it all the way through the course.”
This weekend, McDonald will compete in the Brandon Combat Challenge in Brandon, Miss., with about 150 other firefighters from the U.S. The competition is one in a series that will lead to the national and world Firefighter Combat Challenge later this year that features nearly 700 competitors from across the world.
ESPN has dubbed the competition “the toughest two minutes in sports.” The 16th world competition is in Las Vegas in November.
With his partner, firefighter Brandon Cunningham of Fort Gordon, Ga., McDonald competes in the tandem category that splits the course in half. While both also complete the course on an individual level, McDonald and Cunningham have set two world records for Team Paul Davis.
McDonald said that after he fills up on his ritual pancake breakfast, his goal is to complete the entire course in 1 minute, 35 seconds, shaving off about 10 seconds from his average.
“To keep it fun for me, I’m racing the clock,” McDonald said. “If I can beat my best time, it doesn’t matter what everybody else is doing ... If I run 1.35 and finish 10th I’m gonna be happy.”
The Owensboro firefighter said he has competed in just about every kind of sport, but he said this competition is harder than all of them. He pointed out that one year several NFL players couldn’t make it through the course.
In the past, there have been men who have gotten sick or needed IVs after they finish, and McDonald said he has had to have help off the course when his legs gave out after a race.
“It’s almost as hard mentally as physically because when you start, you know it’s going to hurt,” McDonald said.
The firefighter said he usually starts training April 1 but decided to wait until June this year so he wouldn’t be burned out by November during the world competition. He said any competitor who trains will be able to do his job better because of the intense conditioning.
“It doesn’t make you a better firefighter — it just makes you able to work harder,” McDonald said. “As crazy as this thing may be, I enjoy it.”
While his partner won the world championship in the individual category last year, McDonald said his goal is to place third in nationals and regionals.
As he picked up the 175-pound Rescue Randy “victim” and dragged its heels yet again across the pavement, McDonald said he’ll continue competing as long as it’s fun for him.
“Somewhere, someone else is still training, so I’m not gonna quit either,” he said.