STARKVILLE — It”s called the toughest two minutes in sports.
For the Starkville Fire Department, it could be called the toughest one minute and 28 seconds.
A five-man relay team representing the Starkville Fire Department captured fourth place June 5 at the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge in Brandon and qualified for the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championships this November in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The fastest time in which the SFD team completed the course was 1:28 — the speediest among Mississippi fire departments and fourth best overall. The team consisted of Sgt. Andy Morgan and firefighters Kendall Pyant, Blake Daniels, Ty Davis and Todd Palmer. The group was competing together for the first time in Brandon.
For the first leg of the relay, the high-rise pack carry, firefighters from two teams race in full gear to the top of a five-story tower with a 3-inch hose weighing 42 pounds in tow.
The second leg of the relay waits at the top of tower and, once the leadoff arrives, uses rope to hoist a 42-pound donut roll of 3-inch hose to the top of the tower. After placing the rolls in their respective containers, the second legs for each team race to the bottom of the tower, but must touch each step on the way down or face time penalties.
The third leg, dubbed “forcible entry,” pits firefighters against each other in a Keiser Force Machine chopping simulator. Using a 9-pound shot mallet, competitors must drive a 160-pound steal beam a horizontal distance of 5 feet.
For the fourth relay leg, firefighters race on foot through a slalom course measuring 140 feet, then must drag a hose fully “charged” with water an additional 75 feet and hit a target with its water stream.
During the final leg of the relay, competitors must drag a 175-pound dummy 100 feet.
It”s a tough competition for firefighters, and it required hours of additional training on an obstacle course outside Fire Station 3, Daniels said.
“Reading about it in the newspaper and watching it on YouTube doesn”t really do it justice,” Daniels said. “It”s pretty tough.”
The last time the SFD ran a Combat Challenge team was in 2008, when the group qualified for the World Championships but didn”t attend. The SFD last went to worlds in 2007.
The goal of this year”s team is to place in the top five in Myrtle Beach, Daniels said. Prior to Myrtle Beach, the team will attend regional events in Lexington, Ky., this August and Tyler, Texas, in September.
SFD Sgt. Lee Kellum was on the city”s 2007 team that went to the World Championships and still helps the current group train. He believes the team this year has a legitimate shot at a top five finish at worlds.
“I think it”s safe to say the five guys who are involved in this Combat Challenge are probably five of the fittest guys we have in this department,” Kellum said.
SFD Chief Rodger Mann said he is pleased to see the team representing the department and the city so well.
“I”m proud of them for being able to have not practiced in essentially two years and then maintain conditioning to the point where, with just a couple weeks practicing, they can just step out and boom, they”re on a competitive level again,” Mann said. “I think it speaks volumes to just how physically fit these guys keep their selves on a daily basis.”
Mann hopes the team does well in their upcoming regional and world competitions, not only for the sake of the competitors, but for the entire city of Starkville.
“I think it”s an opportunity to bring a lot of good exposure to the city,” he said.
The team”s travels are not funded by the city, so members are brainstorming for fundraising ideas. Additional details on fundraising events will be released when they become available.
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