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Team STIHL Firefighters
Congratulations to the Women of STIHL for their second
consecutive World Championship win!
In only their second
season of competition, the Women of STIHL firefighter
relay team earned their second Firefighter
Combat Challenge World Championship title in
Las Vegas with a time of 2:05 through the obstacle
course, just a close four-and-a-half seconds
over the second place team.
Read
more.
Team STIHL(both Men’s and Women’s
Teams) competed in Las Vegas with the Women of
STIHL
repeating as World Champions.
About the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge
The Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge
was developed more than a decade ago as a fitness
competition for firefighters as a way to demonstrate
the rigors of the profession. The competition
emerged from the personal mission of Chief David
Gratz (then Director of Fire/Rescue in Montgomery
County, MD) to develop a physical ability test
to determine if potential firefighters had the
necessary abilities to perform the rigorous job
functions one would face in the line of duty.
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Dr. Paul Davis, a former firefighter, was studying the relationship between human physical performance factors and health at the University of Maryland when he partnered up with Chief Gratz. The pair explored their passion in the premier study to examine the physical performance requirements for firefighting.
In 1976, with funding from the US Fire Administration, Chief Gratz and Dr. Davis developed five successive tasks demonstrating common rigors of the profession. During the study Dr. Davis noticed an extreme competitiveness between the firefighters and in 1991, these five tasks became the backbone for the national firefighter competition.
On May 5th, 1991, the inaugural Firefighter Combat Challenge took place in Washington, DC. Within a year the competition had initial sponsors and grew to seven competitions across the nation and by 1993, the National Championship was aired on ESPN.
The Team STIHL firefighters began in 2000 when STIHL became the official sponsor of the men's team. Virginia Beach firefighter Gary Umphlett was instrumental in achieving this sponsorship, as he was involved with STIHL through teaching chain saw safety to firefighters and public works employees. With this already existing public and private relationship between Virginia Beach firefighters and STIHL, the sponsorship would only help to show the support STIHL has for fire safety and service and just how important great equipment is to firefighters when in the line of duty.
"Since STIHL came on board, we've had a great working relationship. STIHL has provided everything we need to compete, as well as the opportunity to travel across the country. Everything we use is STIHL. They've done so much for us as a team."
Now dubbed as "the toughest two minutes in sports," the Firefighter Combat Challenge is hosted in over 20 locations nationwide, attracts hundreds of U.S. and Canadian competitors, and is viewed by millions worldwide each year.
All events for the weekend are free and open to the public. For more information visit: www.firefighter-challenge.com.
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