Women of STIHL on top of their game for firefighter challenge

By David Macaulay
Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Stacy Carroll admits she gets strange looks from passers-by when she's dragging a giant school bus tire and a mannequin outside her home and on the beach.

"I have a mannequin and a tire in the back of my truck," she said. "I drag it around on the sidewalk and the beach." On the beach in Norfolk she'll place the tire and the mannequin a distance apart and drag one to the other. "It really works the quads," Carroll explained.

The unconventional workout paid off for the Newport News firefighter and her teammates this month when they won the Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championship trophy in the women's category. It was their second consecutive victory.

Carroll, 36, a former bodybuilder who lives in Norfolk, is part of a five-woman team made up of fellow Newport News firefighter Katie Hodge, Hampton firefighter Abby Harms, and Amy Bielinski and Mary Colasanto of the Virginia Beach Fire Department.

Named Women of Stihl in recognition of their sponsor, STIHL Inc., the team is becoming a legend in the firefighting community after successfully defending its title in Las Vegas against 12 other teams from the U.S. and Canada. Carroll said the two-day contest is described as the "toughest two minutes of sport."

The relay includes climbing a five-story tower, carrying, hoisting, dragging and spraying fire hoses; driving a 160 pound steel beam called a keiser sled with a mallet, and rescuing a 175 pound mannequin "victim."

"We're in full turnout gear and we have a self-contained breathing apparatus bottle on our back. Just the harness and the bottle is 23 pounds. The gear's probably 60 or 70 pounds."

While Carroll has used many of the challenge's tasks on the job in Newport News, where she has worked for more than two years, she said there are seldom situations where they are all combined.

During the relay, "the cardiovascular kicks in because you're continuing to work and you can't pace yourself. It's all out. It's 100 percent," she said.

Carroll's role includes dragging the mannequin 100 feet to the finish line. "It seems like 100 miles when you're dragging it," she said.

She said the competition this year was tougher than last year's. And they were one member down because Bielinski is pregnant.

The Hampton Roads team narrowly beat a team from Florida for first place. They now hold two national and two world titles in Combat Challenge. They also hold a women's national record for completing the 2 minute course in 1 minute, 45 seconds.

Carroll said she relishes the challenge, including all the hours spent in training.

"I like to do anything that's going to push me to my limits. I always try to find something to get myself involved in so long as it keeps my goal ahead of me and keeps me in the gym. I also wanted to be part of a competitive female team."

Carroll said the events also keep her fit for her job in Newport News at Station 2 on Wickham Avenue.

She devotes at least two hours a day to working out.

Hodge, 26, said she was delighted to retain the world championship.

"It was a real challenge this year but we were well prepared. I'm happy that we've won it again," she said.

Newport News Fire Department spokeswoman Dana Perry said the department supports the team's efforts.

"We want them to do well, but we are happy that they are just competing, because it means we have two professionals who are setting a great example for all the firefighters in the department and the general public."