Nova Scotian Qualifies for World Firefighters Combat Challenge

ENVIRONMENT/LABOUR--Nova Scotian Qualifies for World Firefighters Combat Challenge

If firefighting were an Olympic sport, Kathy Babcooke would be well on her way to winning gold.

Ms. Babcooke is a New Minas-based Grade 7 teacher and captain of the Wolfville Volunteer Fire Department. She recently returned from Windsor, Ont., where she placed in the top 10 in the national Firefighters' Combat Challenge.

"Ongoing training and physical fitness are critical issues for Nova Scotia's firefighters," said provincial Fire Marshal Robert Cormier. "So it gives me great pleasure to congratulate Ms. Babcooke on her remarkable achievement. Her accomplishment proves that this province has some of the best qualified professionals anywhere in the country."

Joined by fellow Wolfville firefighters Matt Black and Mark Young, Ms. Babcooke ran, climbed, hammered, dodged and pulled her way to an impressive ninth-place finish. Her time of two minutes 55 seconds qualifies her for the World Firefighters' Combat Challenge in Florida at the end of October. The Pictou native qualified for the national event after placing third in the regional event last month in Shediac, N.B., with a time of three minutes 28 seconds.

The challenge combines endurance, mental toughness and brute strength in a grueling obstacle course. Competitors race against the clock to complete a series of firefighting-inspired activities.

The race begins with a heart-pounding dash up six flights of stairs to a platform, lugging a 23-kilogram (50-pound) roll of hose. Each competitor has to then pull a 20-kilogram (44-pound) roll of hose up to the platform, then race back down to move an 81-kilogram (180-pound) steel beam 1.5 metres (five feet) by smashing it repeatedly with a sledgehammer.

This is followed by a sprint through a maze of pylons, another run pulling a charged, 23-metre (75-foot) length of hose and a 30-metre (100-foot) walk to the finish line -- carrying a 79- kilogram (175-pound) dummy along the way.

All this is done wearing 23-kilograms (50 pounds) of firefighting gear, including a thick, heat-resistant coat and trousers, gloves, an air tank, mask, helmet and knee-high rubber boots.

Ms. Babcooke had been interested in entering the competition for the past two years, but could muster the nerve to enter this year only after some good-hearted coaxing from her fellow firefighters.

She began training for the competition last October, racing against her colleagues in a replica of the obstacle course they built near the fire hall. She also spent hundreds of hours in the gym lifting weights and building her endurance.

When she's not teaching, training, or fighting fires, Ms. Babcooke is busy raising the $2,500 she needs to attend the World Firefighters Combat Challenge in Deerfield Beach, Florida, at the end of this month.

While the Firefighters Combat Challenge may not have reached the same level of popularity as the Olympics, Ms. Babcooke said it has helped increase her unit's morale and made them all more aware of the importance of keeping in shape in order to fight fires and save lives.