47th US Police & Fire Championships

SAN DIEGO – The 47th annual U.S. Police & Fire Championships are being held in San Diego this week, a city which is also home to the World Police & Fire Games Federation. Think of these organizations like the USOC and the IOC. The idea behind the Games was to create “friendly” competition, promote physical fitness for sworn officers and generate camaraderie around the globe.

Next year, at the World Police & Fire Games (www.fairfax2015.com), athletes from 70 countries will train and travel to Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. They are competing in 60 Olympic-Style sporting events as well as public safety-oriented competitions. Mike Smith, VP of Marketing for the Fairfax 2015 Games, says organizers are expecting over 12,000 athletes.

Over the weekend, the Toughest Competitor Alive competition challenged public safety officers to run, swim, weightlift, rope climb, and push themselves to their very limits. The winner of TCA was firefighter Ezra Aitch of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He had the fastest swim time of :55 for the 100’ freestyle swim as well as great track and field scores. Ezra will be competing at the World Police & Fire Games in Fairfax next year and used the U.S. Games as a training site.

Mike Smith grabbed some great shots of these competitors in action at the TCA venue at Mt. Carmel High School. One of the best weightlifters, Ryan Holmes, did a barbell press of 365 pounds. Mike also followed a couple of first time athletes from law enforcement: Albert Cano of the Hanford PD near Fresno and Daniel Chu, from the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office.

Over the next few days, Law Officer Magazine will also feature a photo spread online of many of the other USPFC Games activities and some of the social events. There was a big splash over the weekend poolside at the headquarters hotel, the Town & Country, where Fairfax sponsored an “Around the World” reception. Joining Mike for athlete recruitment from the Washington area were:

Fairfax County Police Second Lt. Bruce Blechl
Fairfax County Fire Chief Garrett Dyer
Fairfax County Battalion Chief Jerome Williams
Director of Venues Jay Hall

For more information: mike.smith@fairfax2015.com