Murfreesboro Fire & Rescue Department’s Combat Challenge Team participated in the Scott Firefighter Combat Nationals October 11-12, 2013 in Montgomery, Alabama.
Under the direction of Coach Bob Decker, Chad Davis, Kevin Leonard, Brian Lowe, Josh Parsons, Ray Robinson, and Matt Young, qualified for the nationals in September after putting on quite the show in their first-ever regional competition in Lexington, Kentucky. The team placed fifth overall against 20 competitors.
The Combat Challenge, which has been labeled by ESPN as the “Toughest two minutes in sports,” is comprised of several physical tasks such as climbing a 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, and dragging hoses, and rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb opponent against the clock.
Chad Davis did not participate in the national competition. However, Josh Parsons was tasked with climbing the 5-story tower, Matt Young hoisted the hose, Brian Lowe descended the stairs and hammered the keiser sled, Kevin Leonard ran through the serpentine and advanced the hose line to spray toward a target, and Ray Robinson was responsible for dragging the 175 lb “Rescue Randy” for 100 feet.
MFRD’s team won their battle in the male team relay against Montgomery’s “Firehouse 15” in the seeding round on Friday (MFRD 1:31.29, Firehouse 15 1:45.48).
On Saturday, MFRD’s team was picked to compete in the first elimination round against the “Montgomery Medics.” MFRD secured the winning time and moved on to the next round (MFRD 1:34.77, Montgomery Medics 2:00.80).
In the second elimination round, MFRD went up against one of Montgomery Fire Department’s toughest teams, “Montgomery Red.” Even with a few setbacks, MFRD hung in there, but lost the round by just over a second (Montgomery Red 1:33.06, MFRD 1:34.83).
Coach Bob Decker commented on the event, “Competing at this level of competition is still fairly new to us. This is only our second event.” Decker went on to say, “The nationals have taught us what areas we need to work on. Our team is comprised of a group of very competitive individuals; the knowledge we’ve gained through this experience can only increase our ability to be true contenders in future events.”
Source:
Ashley McDonald, PIO for the Murfreesboro Fire and Rescue Dept.
