The third annual battle for the title of U.S. National Champion in the Firefighter Combat Challenge (FCC) finally reached its conclusion Oct. 13-14 in Clayton County, Ga. What makes the national championship so exciting? There wasn’t just one champion; at the end of the day, several worthy competitors left with gold medals.
Team Champs
The team competitions this year were impressive, to say the least. The gold medal in the team competition went to Team Travis, which registered a time of 4:43:29, while the gold medal in the relay competition went to SAM Squad from the Goodfellow (Texas) Air Force Base, which ran a time of 1:13:16, defeating the Overland Park (Kan.) Fire Department relay team.
History was made in the Over-40 relay competition as Clayton County (Ga.) set a world record for an Over-40 relay team, finishing at 1:20:25 and earning the gold medal in the Over-40 relays.
The tandem competition also produced two world records. The co-ed tandem team of Stacy Billapando and Kevin Voyles set the co-ed tandem world record with a time of 3:13:95, while the Hill Climbers Over-40 tandem of Byron McDonald and Lonnie Lewis set the Over-40 tandem world record with a time of 2:46:50. Clayton County also took home the gold in the male tandem event, finishing at 2:44:95.
Individual Champs
The male champion in the individual competition, Bob Russell of Overland Park, ran an impressive 1:28:01. Russell, who was competing in only his second event of the year, won the gold over Mike Melton of Team Travis, who finished at 1:32:06 to claim the silver, and Jeremy Czapinski of the Chula Vista (Calif.) Fire Department, who registered a time of 1:32:67.
The gold in the Over-40 male competition went to Lonnie Lewis of Team Rescue Mode of Chesterfield, Va.; the Over-50 title was awarded to Denny Peffer of Team Paul Davis of Colorado Springs, Colo.
The individual female champion, Anita Horsley of DeKalb (Ga.) Fire and Rescue, made quick work of her run, finishing at 2:11:99-almost 40 seconds faster than the second-place female.
The Missing Competitor
One major change in this year’s U.S. Nationals was the absence of Brandon Cunningham of Team Ft. Gordon, Ga., the 2006 Paul Davis Restoration Overall Grand National Champion, who was not able to compete due to an injury. Cunningham’s teammates, however, competed in both the team and relay categories, finishing 10th in the team category and running an impressive sub-90 relay time of 1:20:83.
Cunningham defeated Russell, who set the world record for the individual male time (1:19:02) at World Challenge X in Memphis, Tenn., at the previous regional event in Evansville, Ind., on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Cunningham ran a 1:24:57 in Evansville, the best time of the entire 2006 tour thus far, beating Russell’s 1:25:55, the second fastest time of the ’06 season.
Look for coverage of the 2006 FCC World Challenge in the January issue of FireRescue.
