Everything you need to know about spectating at the cycling events

There are five cycling events at the games listed below, with venues as diverse as the Mourne Mountains, Carrickfergus Castle, and Stormont Estate, where the first event, the Hill  Climb, takes place (Wednesday 31st July).

All cycling events are open to the public to spectate and entry is free. The events will feature competitors from a wide range of countries including the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.

Hill Climb

Wednesday 31st July

Stormont Estate

Start time: 6.30pm

The Hill Climb will be held in Stormont Estate, the home of the iconic Northern Ireland Parliament Building, over a ¾ mile route.

 

Criterium

Monday, 5th August

Start time: 6.15pm

The Criterium will also be held in Stormont Estate, covering laps of a 1km circuit around the iconic Northern Ireland Parliament Building.

Mountain Biking

Saturday, 3rd August & Sunday, 4th August 2013

Start time: 9am each day

The Mountain Biking events will include Cross Country and Downhill events on the recently opened world-class trails in Rostrevor Forest/Kilbroney Park.

The track for Cross Country is approximately 4km long and includes natural technical single-track, fire road climbs and some fast trail centre single-track. The lap takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

The Downhill track is on the more challenging course at the trail centre. It is approximately 1.4km long.

 

Road Race

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Start time: 9.30am

The road Race will take place in Carrickfergus and will be held over laps of an undulating 18 mile circuit.

Time Trial

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Start time: 9.30am

The Time Trial will be 12 miles long and will also take place in Carrickfergus. It will start from the ramparts of the historic Norman Castle which stands on the banks of Belfast Lough.

Further information about the cycling events, including updates on schedules is available here. Please check the website for any schedule changes before attending.

Stormont entertainment during the games

Stormont Estate is putting on a series of events to coincide with the games between 31st July and 8th August, including a free family fun day, free live entertainment in a bar marquee, and tours of Parliament Buildings. Competitors, spectators, visitors and the general public are all welcome. Further information is available in the flyer below.

Free WPFG events to entertain the kids...

With the kids off school for the summer and parents looking for ways to occupy them, here are 10 suggested World Police and Fire Games events to take them to! Entry is free.

           

Ice-hockey

The Games don’t officially start until August 1st, but as a major prestige sport, ice-hockey started in advance of the opening ceremony. There are matches every day, apart from August 1, right up until Friday August 9. There are two venues, the Odyssey Arena and Dundonald Ice-Bowl, and teams include the New York Fire Department, Boston Police, the Finnish Police, teams from Russia, and a range of other countries. There is a full schedule of matches available on our website.

Dragon Boats

Dragon Boats will race on the River Lagan beside Lanyon Place (near the Waterfront Hall) on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of August. There are teams from Singapore, America, Australia, Germany and elsewhere. This event is a great spectator sport and there will be some excellent vantage points for watching the action.

Ultimate Firefighter

Ultimate Firefighter is one of the highlights of the games. It will take place at Titanic Slipways on the 6th, 7th and 8th of August and will feature firefighters from Brazil, Spain, the US, Canada, Australia, and Northern Ireland, to name a few countries. The event includes, amongst other aspects, a hose task, a high rise task, and an obstacle course.

Muster

Muster is a high-tempo team event for firefighters which will take place on Monday 5th of August on Titanic Slipways. You can view a video here that gives a flavour of the event.

Surfing / surf kayaking / beach volleyball

East Strand Portrush will be the venue for surfing, surf kayaking and beach volleyball on the 6th, 7th and 8th of August. You'll see competitors from California, Bondai Beach, Brazil and elsewhere in these great events.

Cycling

The cycling events will include a Criterium (5th August), Hill Climb (31st July), Mountain Biking (3rd & 4th August), Road Race (3rd August) and Time Trial (4th August). The Criterium and Hill Climb will take place at Stormont Estate, the mountain biking at Rostrevor Forest/Kilbroney Park, and the road race and time trial at Carrickfergus Castle.

Track & Field

Track & Field is one of the biggest events of the games and will take place at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast from the 2nd to the 6th of August. Events include 100m, 200m, javelin, discus, long jump, and other events you would expect in a Track & Field event. Competitors will be from all over the world.

Basketball

From Hong Kong, Mexico, Greece, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, the competitors will compete in either 3 v 3 or 5 v 5 events at two venues – Queen’s Sport PEC and The Valley Leisure Centre in Newtownabbey. 3 v 3 takes place from 1-3 August. 5 v 5 takes place from 3rd-7th August. The full schedule can he viewed here.

Indoor Swimming

Indoor swimming takes place from 2nd- 4th August at Bangor Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Centre. There will be some 120 races over the three days featuring competitors from a diverse range of countries.

Rugby 7s

Rugby 7s is a fast, fun sport and will take place at Queen’s Sport Upper Malone on the 7th, 8th and 9th August featuring teams such as the New Zealand Fire Service, the Italian State Fire Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Nigerian Police, and New York Police Department, to name a few.

Further information:

These are just a flavour of some of the events taking place as part of the games. There are 56 sports at 41 venues in total. Most of them are open to the public and entry is free. Find out more at www.2013wpfg.com or watch this video:

5 things you need to know about 2013 WPFG ice-hockey

Ok, with the ice-hockey competition getting underway today, here are five things you need to know!

1. When?

The Games don’t officially start until August 1st, but as a major prestige sport, ice-hockey begins TODAY, in advance of the opening ceremony. There are three matches today (Thursday), and then matches every day, apart from August 1, right up until Friday August 9. There is a full schedule available on our website.

2. Where?

There are two venues, the Odyssey Arena and Dundonald Ice-Bowl.

Dundonald International Ice Bowl:

Monday, 29 July 2013

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Monday, 5 August 2013

Odyssey Arena:

Thursday, 25 July - Friday, 9 August 2013 (excluding Thursday, 1 August 2013)

3. The NI Tridents

Northern Ireland has its own team participating in the ice-hockey, the NI Tridents. They’re competing in the Novice section and have their first game against the Toronto Courts this evening (Thursday), 7pm at the Odyssey Arena. Get behind them and show them your support!

The other teams are from a wide range of countries, including Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Russia, the UK, the US, and Canada. One of the best named teams has to be the ‘Guns and Hoses’, a team from Las Vegas made up of both police officers and firefighters!

4. It’s open to the public and FREE

Like most sports in the games, ice-hockey is open to the public and entry is FREE, on a first come, first served basis. Find out more about spectating and about the ice-hockey competition at www.2013wpfg.com

5. You can watch many matches online

There should be some great hockey as well as a great atmosphere, so attending the games should be your first preference! But if you can’t attend, or are overseas and want to watch a friend or family member competing, you can watch many of the games online! In a world’s first, the 2013 World Police and Fire Games have teamed with Watch ThisLive to show all ice hockey matches at the Odyssey Arena live online!

Dublin to Belfast Pump Push

Hello my name is Declan, I am a Fire Fighter with the Dublin Fire Brigade and I am co-ordinating a charity pump-push from Dublin to Belfast.

So what exactly is a pump-push? There’s quite a long history of pump pushing in the fire services across the world; the portable fire pumps on wheels were actually the very first fire engines. Local volunteers used to race to the scene of the fire pushing a cart with some basic equipment to extinguish it. The fire service with all its passed down customs and competitiveness refused to let this tradition die, and in the early 1970s, brigades across the world began racing each other not to extinguish fire but for World Record glory and pride in their organisation!

The pump we are running with is the very same pump that Dublin Fire Brigade used in 1983 during their world record. It was built by engineer students from Cathal Brugha Technical College as a course project. In January of this year, the pump was found abandoned at the rear of our training centre with weeds and grass growing up through it. It was in a very bad state and had to be completely restored. It was re-welded and taken to our vehicle maintenance where they ‘Pimped our Pump’! It has been used in training sessions since mid-May after we revealed it to our pump pushers in Phoenix Park after a Dublin Fire Brigade Family Day 5km run.

Our racing team currently has a team of 48 runners from the Dublin Fire Service who will be pushing the fire pump from Dublin to Belfast on 31 July. We’ve split the members into eight teams of six and the first team will set off on their first leg from Swords at 11pm. The teams will switch throughout the night on their run up to Newry; their route will take them through Balbriggan, Gormanstown, Julianstown, Drogheda, Dunleer, Castlebellingham, Dundalk to Newry.

Fire Fighters from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service will join up with the Dublin Fire team at Newry Fire Station and will then set off at 8.30am to head to Belfast via Scarva, Banbridge, Moira, Lisburn to the King’s Hall for the Opening Ceremony. The journey is 160km, so if we keep at an average running/pushing speed of 6mph it will take us 16 hours, assuming we have no issues on the way.

Our training started in March to get the non-runners moving and build up to a 5km family run. The serious training started when the pump was restored; currently we have three training sessions a week mixing pump pushing, longer runs and the dreaded bootcamp sessions with Greg Dunne from Dunboyne Fitclub. Some of our energetic team are competing in the Games and are taking part in the stair climb, cycling, athletics and dragon boat racing – so they all the pump-push training is helping them get in fighting form for these events!

We are raising money for a total of six charities; three from the Republic of Ireland - Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association, Suicide or Survive and CanTeen Ireland (donations can be made online)  and three from Northern Ireland - SOS NI Bus, Special Education Needs Advice Centre and Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children (there will be a bucket collection for these charities on the route up from Newry).

I’d like to give a big thanks to Aidan Magennis and Rod O'Hare of the Northern Ireland Fire Service for supporting us and for their AMAZING assistance to date; we look forward to meeting them at the border!

If you would like to read more about the Pump Push follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Kevin Miles - Co-working and competing!

Hello there! My name is Kevin Miles and I am a retired FBI agent from Western Massachusetts.

This year my wife, Reggie, and I are coming over to the Games in Belfast. Both of us are going to be competitors which will be great fun - fortunately we won’t be going up against each other as we’re in different events! That’s probably a very good thing since we have pretty much followed the same path career-wise for the past 23 years!!

We met each other on the first day of our FBI training and were in the same Academy class at Quantico. We worked together for three years in Buffalo, NY Division; we were on the Organised Crime Squad and then on the Narcotics Squad. We then worked in the Los Angeles Division for 17 years. For the first three of those years we worked together on the Joint Terrorism Task Force - I worked in Domestic Terrorism and Reggie worked International Terrorism. We both recently retired from the FBI - on the very same day, of course! We now work together for Troy Asymmetric in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

This will be my second time at World Police and Fire Games and it will be my wife’s fifth (I have a serious bit of catching up to do!). I will be doing the Triathlon and Regina will be doing the Push-Pull event. We are both really looking forward to the Games and meeting up with all the other international competitors – I just hope I pick up a better medal than my wife!!

Yi-Wen - 2013 WPFG Games Ambassador

Hello there! My name is Yi-Wen Hsu and I am a volunteer for the 2013 Games. I have been involved in variety of volunteer roles for over 10 years, ranging from health promotion, community work, supporting the disabled and elderly to acting as an interpreter for the London Olympic Games. My parents also volunteer regularly and they are the people who inspired me the most; they have taught me to help others whenever I can.  I believe the world can actually change for the better if everyone helps each other!

Participating in the Olympics was an incredible experience and when I heard that the World Police and Fire Games were coming to Belfast, I jumped at the chance to volunteer! My role will be as a Games Ambassador where I will support visitors, athletes and their families.

I really enjoyed the Volunteer Orientation Event in Belfast, it was truly impressive! It started with amazing African music greeting us at the arrival point and then an Indian dance performance on stage. It totally reflected the spirit of WPFG - a truly worldwide, multicultural event.  Dame Mary Peters and other representatives from the Games provided many inspirational speeches and shared their valuable experiences with us. The greatest part was to meet all the other WPFG volunteers there; I know we will all deliver the best service and make the Games a great success!!!!

Thanks to Volunteer Now for their wonderful hosting skills and for bringing us all together. The WPFG is our chance to show the world how amazing Northern Ireland is; I cannot wait to put on the volunteer uniform and give everyone our warmest welcome. Bring it on!! 

Volunteers - Rachel, Andrew and Clare

Hi there! We’d like to introduce ourselves – we’re Rachel, Andrew and Clare – we are triplets and we've all signed up as volunteers for the 2013 World Police and Fire Games!

Rachel Magowan
My inspiration to become a volunteer for the Games mainly comes from my experience as a Fire Cadet and my desire to be a part of something that would create many memories for lots of people. I am looking forward to being part of a big team and helping out in my local community. I've never volunteered for something like the Games, but I've done some voluntary work at a local nursery to get valuable experience as I would like to be a primary school teacher. This is going to be a very exciting time for Belfast, and the whole of Northern Ireland!

Andrew Magowan

Well, I'm just as excited as Rachel is! I can’t wait to be so closely involved in one of the biggest events to happen in Northern Ireland. It will be so much fun to be part of the Games and meet people from so many different countries. I hadn't really thought about volunteering before, so this will be a fantastic first experience for me!

Clare Magowan

As soon as I heard about volunteering for WPFG on the TV and Radio, I signed up straight away! Like Rachel, I am a Fire Cadet in Carrickfergus and I was inspired to become a volunteer to meet new people and get vital experiences in the community as I want to join the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. I want to make my Cadet Leaders proud as they are the ones who have given me the inspiration and passion for all things related to the Fire Service!

We are all delighted to have been chosen as part of team 2013! See you at the Games!