Local firefighter Ray Herbert made the long trip home from Swift Current, Sask. on Monday having finally participated in his first Firefighter Combat Challenge.
“It was overwhelming,” said Herbert. “It was probably 200 percent tougher than I thought it would be.”
Herbert ran the course in 2:22 minutes, which beat his goal of three minutes by quite a bit.
“I probably could have used an ambulance at the end,” he said, half-jokingly. “I wondered what I got myself into.
“I did a little better than I thought,” he continued, though he placed 51st out just over 80 competitors, which he was discouraged about. “There were a lot of people who didn’t finish, some that collapsed and some that quit before they were all the way through.
“There was less than a minute from first to last place,” he added. “Every 10th of a second counts.”
Herbert’s time was good enough to qualify him for the Wild Card Day at the Canadian championships in Prince Edward Island in September, but he feels he can improve on it.
“I know I got four seconds in penalties,” he said, referring to two two-second penalties he received for missing two steps at the bottom of one of the obstacles.
Herbert also had a stumble that cost him precious time.
“I started off on the wrong foot and stumbled on a stair,” he recalled, adding he tripped on one of the top steps of the five-storey tower they have to climb.
“I tripped at the top of the stairs and dropped the hose pack,” he said. “I went right down.
“I was going to quit right there, but decided I’d gone too far to quit,” Herbert confessed, adding that the competitor he was racing against inspired him and he did well after that.
Though the day was wet and windy “with tornado warnings,” Herbert attributed his slip to a lack of concentration.
“I was thinking too far ahead,” he explained. “It was just lack of experience.
“Now I’ve done the course and know what I need to do to train,” he said, adding that with the penalties and the slip, he can save at least another 10 seconds off his time.
“It was a horrible day for the course, so everybody’s time was slow,” he noted.
Herbert wants to improve his time at the next event, slated June 21 in Thunder Bay, which is a regional event to determine the regional representative at the national championship.
A win in Thunder Bay will earn Herbert a spot in the finals at the national championship rather than just a wild card berth, though he’d be happy with improving his time—or even breaking the two-minute barrier.
“A lot of these guys have gone to 20-30 competitions and have courses at work to train,” he said. “It’s hard to compete with that.”
Despite the level of competition, Herbert said the fraternity of firefighters that go to the combat challenges is strong.
“I was really treated well,” he remarked. “They’re all very nice people, giving out hints and secrets.”
Herbert said a highlight of the trip was meeting a legend in the firefighter challenge world—Roy Davis of Tacoma, Wash. Herbert said the former world record holder is now over 60 years of age but still runs the course in less than minutes.
“It was a thrill,” he enthused. “I had no idea he was going to be there. It was really nice to talk to him. He walked me through the course and gave me a million things to think about.”
Herbert plans on making the trip to Thunder Bay to try his luck at the regional competition, but he won’t be going alone this time.
“I have a bit of an entourage coming to see me,” he said, adding some of his firefighter colleagues and his wife will be going to cheer him on.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
