A member of Thompson Fire & Emergency Services recently achieved a personal best time at the 2017 national FireFit national championship in Ottawa.
At the end of this five-day competition, which ran Sept. 6–10 and involved 164 participants, Darrick Graff ended up clinching sixth place in the individual event with a time of 1:20.05.
For Graff, who’s been fighting fires in Thompson since 2010, this result was pretty gratifying, especially since he’s been gradually shaving seconds off his time in this event for the last six years.
“It’s been a pretty steady progression,” he said. “The first time I ever ran it was back in 2011, and I was around 1:39 then … and now I’m down to trying to break 1:20.”
Each FireFit participant is required to complete a six-part obstacle course in full firefighter gear. This includes a 60-step stair climb, a 45-pound hose hoist, a forcible entry simulation, a 140-foot run, a 75-foot hose advance, and, finally, a victim rescue section involving a 165-pound dummy.
Of course, the road to mastering this obstacle course is never easy. Graff said he starts officially training six to eight weeks before a competition takes place by replicating the course as best he can.
Graff qualified for this year’s FireFit nationals by competing at a regional event in Winnipeg back in June, which means he had to start training when there was still snow on the ground in Thompson.
“The majority of the stuff at the fire hall I can do and other than that it’s just lots of strength-bearing stuff, lots of grunt work, lots of dragging sleds and sprinting and running stairs.”
Outside of a gradual improvement in his personal time, Graff also noticed that the competition itself has evolved over the years.
“I remember when I first started the regional events had a cap at 150 people, which they never seemed to reach. Now it’s grown quite a bit,” he said. “There’s some events that are actually full … that was almost non-existent before.”
Instead of waiting for next year’s FireFit challenge to sharpen his skills, Graff is hopping right back into the fray at the end of the month. From Oct. 23–28 he will be competing in the world Firefighter Combat Challenge in Louisville, Kentucky, which features participants from all over the globe.
If all goes well, Graff is hoping to finally break that coveted 1:20 threshold.
“Now it’s coming down to the little things and transitional stuff,” he said. “I don’t know if I can get in much better shape. I don’t think that’s going to help. I think it’s going to be a lot of running through the course and making sure your technique is spot on.“
According to FireFit’s official website, next year’s regional qualifying round is tentatively scheduled to take place June 17–18 in Winnipeg.
