Cedar Falls firefighter goes for the gold
Published in: Waterloo Courier (Waterloo, IA)
Date: 8/18/2007
he first competition was humbling.
Shane Farmer played rugby for 10 years. He thought nothing could be more difficult than 80 minutes of hard hits and nonstop action.
It took less than two minutes for him to learn just how wrong he was.
Farmer, 30, participated in his first Firefighter Combat Challenge in 2006. The agility course consists of five events — a five-story climb, hose hoist, forcible entry simulation, hose advance and victim rescue. And it is all done in full gear. The challenge season runs from May through November, with events across the country. Participants can compete in as few or as many challenges as they choose.
Farmer is one of the more dedicated athletes in this area. He plans to attend at least eight events this year, including one today in Omaha. Many firefighters, including the five who train in Waterloo, attend only one or two each year. For many, it is difficult to justify the time needed to train and money needed to travel. The events are not sponsored by the local departments, and participants must fund their own trips. Farmer is the first firefighter to participate in Cedar Falls.
However, they continue to train throughout the year to better themselves and their performance on the job. The competitors agree the training and competition improves their skills and stamina for the day-to-day tasks.
“The only difference between what we are doing there and what we do on a fire scene is you pace yourself on a fire,” said Waterloo firefighter Ben Petersen, 32.
The training also improves their times on the obstacle course. Farmer’s first time out he posted a time of three minutes and 20 seconds.
“Going into it I was definitely a lot more overconfident than I should have been,” said Farmer. “…The pain and discomfort I felt when I was done was more than anything I had felt before.”
He wasn’t alone in his confidence. Charlie Donohue, a Waterloo firefighter, went into his first competition with a little more training and advice than Farmer. Petersen, a colleague and Iowa record holder in the event, had warned him of what to expect.
Even that wasn’t enough.
“It was 10 times harder. I consider myself in pretty good shape and at the end I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck,” said Donohue. “That’s the humbling thing about it. The normal response is, ‘How hard can two minutes be?’ It’s hard to explain to somebody.
“The first time I went through, about 45 seconds in I felt like I was having a heart attack. Your body goes into complete shock. You’re in oxygen debt. … I use the time going down the stairs to gather myself,” he continued.
While Donohue, who is also competing this weekend, and the other Waterloo firefighters can train at their facility on Newell Street, Farmer has had to develop a makeshift course he assembles for each practice in the firehouse parking lot. Instead of a five-story tower, Farmer climbs the ladder in the department’s bucket truck. He uses a tire made heavier by two weights to simulate the hose pull. And a free weight positioned between two wooden beams closely mimics the competition’s forcible entry component.
But, Farmer’s lack of a training facility has not hindered his ability to compete. He recently captured the Iowa record at a competition in Janesville, Wis. His time of 1:49 shattered the former Iowa record of 1:57.9 held by Petersen.
“We haven’t talked since then, but I can say hats off to him,” Petersen said. “I know the level of commitment it takes to be competitive at this.”
Though Petersen, who began competing in 1999, is taking the loss of the record in stride, it has also served as a motivator for him and the other Waterloo firefighters to train that much harder.
“We will be training to get that record back over here,” Donohue said.
Petersen, Donohue and firefighter Jon Kieler still hold the state’s team record, which combines the top three scores of any registered team in a competition. Waterloo Fire Captain Mike Jenn also holds the state record in the 40 and over division.
The world record, held by Bob Russell of Overland Park, Kan., is 1:19.02. Farmer said the fastest runs he has seen are around the 1:26 mark.
“That’s only 20 seconds off what I’m at, which doesn’t seem like much, but these guys have been training forever,” he said. For now, Farmer will settle for turning in a time under 1:40. He hopes to do that at the world championships this fall in Las Vegas. “That would put me in the lion’s den … the top 40 in the world.”
The world championships are televised each year on ESPN.
Even though each firefighter has a personal goal, which could include beating records or other’s times, the athletes are mostly competing against themselves.
“It’s really a neat environment. Everyone there is going against the clock. There are very few guys with egos,” Donohue said. “The good majority are the nicest guys you could meet. And every one of them has trained their guts out.”
Petersen likens the camaraderie to a brotherhood.
“There is that common thread among all of us. I can go to a competition in Kansas or Wisconsin or wherever and there is a brotherhood there,” he said. “If somebody does good, the guys are all there to root them on, even if they don’t know him. If someone goes down, everyone is encouraging him to keep going. It makes you proud to be part of that kind of group.”