Final day of Toughest Competitor Alive

By Volunteer Nicci Gregg

Thursday was the third and final day of the Toughest Competitor Alive (TCA) event and the turn of the mixed doubles and 4-person teams to show off their various talents and skills in eight different stages of the event which are as follows:

5k Run

100m Sprint

Shotput

100m Swim

Rope Climb

Bench Press

Pull Ups

Obstacle Course

With so many different phases to this event the athletes taking part certainly need to be the totally package with exceptionally diverse physical skills.

If you missed the other days for the TCA event, check out Kat's blog which sets the scene for the first day where she saw the women and 50+ Men compete for the highly sought after TCA title.

The day started with the first three disciples of the event (5k run, 100m sprint and shot put) taking place at the Bangor Sports Complex.  The competitors then travelled by bus to the Bangor Aurora Centre to begin their swimming challenge which is where i joined the festivities.

As I arrived at the Aurora I settled in to watch the competitors doing their warm up for the 100m freestyle swim race.  I sat amongst the competitors friends, family and supporters and got talking to the brother of a member of Team Spain who told me that his "brother has trained seven days a week for a whole year for this competition and is going for the gold".  This Spanish determination became even more clear when the race kicked off as i watched three members of Team Spain win all three phases of the swimming challenge, with Sweden following closely behind.

The spectator area at the Aurora was filled with smiling faces from all over the world and encouraging cheers in all sorts of languages, but when local man Roy Allen stepped up to represent Team Northern Ireland the pool filled with cheers and few 'Keep er lit' chants came his way.

The fastest time in the swimming came from Fernando Felipe of Spain with a time of 1:08:80.

After the swimming competitors, volunteers and spectators all made their way to the sports hall, also within the Aurora complex to watch the rope climb, bench press and pull ups, with the weight lifting competition for the WPFG also taking place in the same hall the atmosphere was electric, not to mention loud.

First up was the rope climb challenge.  Competitors had to climb a 20ft rope which had a disk at the top covered in black soot, the officials check the competitors hands after the climb for black marks to ensure they touched the disk, the fastest time wins.  All competitors took turns on two ropes, cheering each other on when it was not their turn. I watched closely and once again noticed it may be a close call between Spain and Sweden.  There was only one female who attempted the rope climb, and I must say, she put the boys to shame, you can watch my video by clicking here.

On to the bench press and pulls up section of the day.  Competitors took turns at lifting a weight which they had previously set for themselves and for pull ups they had do as many as they could with their chin touching the top bar each time.  Once again, Sweden stood out to me here with Max Norwood showing off his determination and recieving endless cheers from the whole crowd.  Local man Steven Morrison completed a total of 29 pull ups and once again got the biggest cheer of the day.

At 2pm, the athletes, volunteers and spectators made their way back to the Bangor Sports Complex with the final challenge of the day ahead, the obstacle course.  Back at the BSC the spanish team entertained everyone as they had brought their own portable iPod player and played traditional spanish music while they did their warm up, this of course put everyone in a fantastic mood, the sun shinning down on the field didn't hurt either.

The obstacle course consisted of, monkey bars, tyre steps, wall jumps, net runs and many other things (these are not the official terms, but its how I can be describe it).  The course had a gladiator style about and believe me, these athletes certainly are like gladiators.

One by one the competitors took to the final stage of their busy day for their last chance to be named the 'Toughest Competitor Alive'. Here are the results.

My next and final event will be the Ice Hockey on Friday night, stay tuned for my final blog.

Toughest Competitor Alive: Day One

By Volunteer Kat Cassidy

An 8.00am start and it was still cool down at Bangor sportsplex as competitors arrived for registration. Lots of stretching and jumping around the track as competitors warmed up literally not just for the cross country 5k but for heat.

As soon as the 5k cross country was underway I'm pretty sure they weren't complaining about the cool weather! First across the line was German Peter Wiek followed by Finland Kasia Haikola.

There are eight events that make up the TCA  (Toughest Competitor Alive) event so winning one event won't make you the overall winner as Steven McIlveen staff at games said: "It's all done on a points basis so really it's anyone's game until the end. Everyone does the cross country together then at the end are divided into their groups so in theory it should be a smooth continuous flow from event to event."

The shot putt event showed off power and strength with women throwing a 4kg ball and the men 6kg. Each competitor took two shots and their best distance was recorded.

Chuck Foot director from the federation of WPFG said: "I have been involved with the WPFG since it started in '85 and to win medals in the TCA event you need to be able to do all events well. If you're no good at shot putt then get a coach and a few lessons. You can tell those teams that mean business out on the track already."

Sore arms tired legs and next up was the 100m sprint. This was fast so it shows age and sex is no defining issue in sport! Track suits on, banana munching and energy drink downed, the athletes boarded the bus down the road to the high tech Aurora Sports Centre.

The Aurora sports centre in Bangor hosted the 100m swim followed by the packed out hall to watch the rope climb. First female to reach the top was from Spain followed by a fellow team member over half of the women managed the climb. The Spanish team blitzed the rope climb with nearly all of them reaching the top. There is a disc at the top that is covered in black that marks the athletes hands when touched - this shows the judges that they did actually reach the top.

The atmosphere in the hall was electric filled to the rafters with cheers in a multitude if languages and you didn't need to be a linguist to understand what everyone was shouting. More often than not all the men reached the top they just needed to be quick in order to set themselves apart. Tom from Alaska was delighted as he managed the rope climb for the first time so he was able to hold his head up high and return home no matter what the outcome of the competition.

As the events went on with pull ups and bench press. The girls were pushing anything around 50kg and the men more than double this

The obstacle race saw leaps and swings pushing them to the limit finally it was all over nearly 12 hours later and the much deserved medal places were awarded to:

Women's

45-49 Camilla Argen Sweden

35-39 Mikaela Kellner Sweden

39-34 Adorcion Alonso-lore Spain

18-29 Jenna Norwood

Men's

60-64 Arthur Weyenberg Belgium

55-59 David Milkos USA

50+ heavy Mark Winchester USA 

50-54 Raymond Soto USA

This is my last blog for the games and what a great event to finish on. I have met many inspiring individuals from athletes to volunteers and will leave with very fond memories. Thanks to the organisers, the athletes and supporters who have made these games truly enjoyable.

TCA event continues throughout the week. Find out more: http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/tca

Running, blogging and brewing beer!

My name is Eduardo Flecha Pérez and I am a 32 year old fire fighter from Spain. I am crazy about trail running and well, all sports in general!

In 2011, I competed in the New York Games where I took part in the 5k Cross Country. It was a really great event but this time round I am taking things to another level….. I have signed up for TWO events – Mountain Running and Toughest Competitor Alive.

I am well into my training for both of these events and I have even created a Blog to share my experiences and photos with everyone – please click here to have a look at what I have been up to. And when I am not running up a mountain or writing up my Blog, I am busy with my other passion – brewing beer! I’m looking forward to sampling some of the local beers in Northern Ireland!

See you in Belfast everyone, I am VERY excited about it!!

Are you competing in this year's Games and have a story to tell? Please send us an e-mail and we'll share it with other athletes on our Blog! 

TCA – Transformation, Commitment, Achievement

Hello my name is Peter Thompson and I am a 30 year old constable in the Police Service of Scotland.

My story began in 2005 when I was tipping the scales at nearly 18 stone, I had always wanted to become a Police Officer and one day I realised I just had to do something if I was going to achieve this. So, I made major lifestyle changes, followed a new diet and fitness regime and ended up shedding around 4 stone! This was both an emotional and physical journey and finally I was accepted into the Police Service in 2006.

This has been a huge turnaround in my life and I am thrilled to say that I am taking part in this year’s Toughest Competitor Alive event – something I could never imagined doing 8 years ago!

Do you have any inspirational stories you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you, please drop us an email and we'll get in touch!

Eric Beauchamp – competing for a cause

My name is Eric Beauchamp and I'm a police officer in the Longueuil Police Department in the province of Québec, Canada. I’ve been in the force for 7 years and the Belfast Games will be my first experience of the World Police and Fire Games. I will be competing in two events – Mountain Biking and Toughest Competitor Alive.

My reason for taking part in the Games is to raise money for the HTAPQ Foundation which supports people who have the incurable disease Artery Pulmonary Hypertension, a condition that my wife suffers from. My goal is to raise $5000, and to help me achieve this I have created my own website, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages.

This is the first time I have put so much time and effort into something; I'm not expecting to win any medals, my only goal is to reach the magic number of $5000! My training regime for the Games is extremely challenging and each week I complete the following:

3 x 100km road cycles

3 x 30km mountain bike cycles

1 x cross-fit sessions

2 x spin sessions

3 x gym session

1 x 5km runs

50 x 100m sprints

I am very lucky to have so much support as I find the training so demanding, both mentally and physically. People have rallied round to be my personal trainers, motivators and training buddies – all of which is helping me through this gruelling regime!

I can’t wait to visit Northern Ireland and compete with some amazing athletes in the Games!

Click on the following links for more information about the Cycling and TCA events, or if you’d like to register for any of the sports events please click here.