They don't make fire marshall rookie cards. There are no "Fastest Extinguished" records used in fantasy leagues. And you may not see a firefighter's face in Sports Illustrated.
Still, it's not hard to see that the competitors of this weekend's Firefighter Combat Challenge in the Oaks Mall parking lot are fine-tuned athletes worthy of sporting legend.
The challenge? Racing seven flights up a tower in a bulky fireproof suit, blasting a target with a high-powered hose, rescuing a mannequin from almost certain doom. The challengers? Normal, everyday firefighters from stations across the state.
The prize? That's not so tangible. Do they do it for the championship ring, for pride or just for bragging rights?
For the men of the Venice Fire Department, the answer is all three.
For the last three months, firefighters like Brandon Folkers and Eric Putnal have practiced running, lifting and chopping for the challenge in a Venice training academy.
"There is no type of running or treadmill that can prepare you for this," Putnal said after Saturday's race. "It's the hardest two minutes of your life."
Folkers, not trying to hide his exhaustion, agreed.
"It's the closest you can get to death," he said, "without dying."
According to the president and co-designer of the challenge, Paul Davis, that means the race is working. Davis, a former researcher with the University of Maryland, said he created the challenge in 1974 as a physical test for applicant firefighters.
It wasn't until the '90s that the challenge became a benchmark event for competitive fire units to track their prowess against others nationwide.
As grueling as it sounds, Davis and others said the adrenaline rush of the challenge can't be beat.
"Firefighters, by nature, are competitive," he said. "In the fire service, this is a very big deal."
