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.