Race against the clock: Rapid City firefighters ready for world event

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Rapid City’s most athletic firefighters are headed to Nashville next week to compete in the Firefighter Challenge League (FCL) World Championships.

The FCL attracts the world’s best firefighters to go up against each other in a timed skills-based challenge course. The league hosts eight annual events as a part of the Firefighter Challenge Championship Series.

”Rapid City Fire Department has been a part of the firefighter challenge for approximately 20-plus years, so we got a big legacy,” Rapid City firefighter Danny Sandvig said.

“It’s pretty humbling, it’s a very neat experience,” Rapid City firefighter Morgan Helton added. “Not many sports you get to compete with people on an international level.”

The competition course isn’t for the weak. Listen up.

1. Carry a 45-pound pack up several flights of stairs

2. Then, hoist up another 50-pound pack

3. After, run down the stairs as fast as you can

4. Next, hit a 150-pound keiser 10-feet with a sledgehammer

5. Then, run 100-feet, weaving in and out of cones

6. Later, carry a fully charged hose over 100-feet

7. Finally, backpedal through the finish line carrying a 175-pound dummy

“Just like any other athlete, high school or college, or anything like that, we’re working hard, trying to be the best athlete we can be,” Sandvig said of the team’s constant training.

“I was an athlete back in college and high school and things like that, and then when we went through the academy they put us through the firefighter challenge,” Helton said of what got her interested. “I was just kind of hooked from then, and I was like I think I want to see if I can do better.”

Although being a firefighter demands a high-level of physical fitness, many find the firefighter challenge as a release from work, and a way to remain active.

“We have to deal with a lot of things not only through the fire side, but also EMS, having to see death and just the things that happen in life…to get out here and train to let all that go,” Sandvig explained.

“Everyone in this field likes to be challenged,” Helton said. “They like to problem solve, they like something new to do, something to push themselves and so this is just something that we can get together with like-minded individuals.”

Starting next Monday (Oct. 21), you can follow the Rapid City Fire Department Facebook page for updates from Nashville.

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