Competition 2006: The Ratz Get Revenge

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by Kurt Feavel, PCI #539
University of Wisconsin Police (WI)
IPMBA Board of Directors

It was a dark and stormy night…ok, not really, but the clouds and rain certainly made it feel that way! However, no one let the weather darken their spirits; competitors and spectators alike truly enjoyed an excellent and exciting competition, held at Dayton’s RiverScape Park, during the 16th Annual Conference.

It was so thrilling that even the Mayor of Dayton could not stay off the course.

Thanks to the creative and diabolical mind of Officer Jeff Brown of the Dayton PD bike unit, nearly 70 competitors encountered the type of challenging obstacles about which they may have previously only dreamed…or had nightmares!

The race began with a short sprint to a set of cones turning 90-degrees left and leading to a twisting, turning cone course around a statue of Wilbur and Orville Wright with the Wright flyer. Then it was a sharp left onto a multi-tiered set of ramps, a hard left up a short set of three steps, around a park bench and on to the patch collector.

Tired yet? Coming out of the patch collector was a tight keyhole, followed by the teeter-totter and an eight-foot section of “washboard”. From here the competitors slalomed through a series of concrete bollards before climbing a short ramp and negotiating yet another series of bollards. As the competitors dashed for the finish line, a strategically placed cone tested their skill at “splitting the cone”, and then it was up-and-over a railroad tie and on to the finish!

No race is complete without some spectacular crashes – and near misses, such as the one in which a contestant, upon crossing the finish line, nearly collided with the mayor, testing the “life-saving” skills of Dayton’s Jamie Bullens who snatched her out of harm’s way. As a testament to the great skill displayed by all the competitors no one was seriously injured and the ambulance sat idle.

A number of well-received changes were made to the competition guidelines this year. The equipment requirements were modified to offer a competition more focused on rider skill and the separate categories for police, EMS, and security were merged into a single Public Safety category. This opened up the possibility for mixed teams. An open category was added to allow vendors and guests to participate. Finally, a Male 50 & over age group was created.

Team Dezert Ratz, comprised mostly of members of 2005’s Team Enchantment, took top honors in the team competition. After having been edged out of the top slot by less than three seconds last year, they were ready for revenge. Team Bethlehem has them in their sights for 2007! The “thirty-somethings” dominated the individual times for men. The top three finishers overall were Jason Schiffer, Bethlehem Police (1:50:92); Tom Lynch, London Ambulance Service (1:56:03); and just fractions of a second away from an individual medal, Brian Cantele, West Hartford Police (1:56:44). Tammy Kilgore Alois, Coconut Creek Police (4:04:83), topped her age group for the second year in a row, while Barb Winstead, Cincinnati Police (2:27:04) took first place over last year’s winner in the 35+ age group, Tammy Shoemaker, Huber Heights Police. The average run-time was 3:00:47.

I would like to congratulate all the competitors and the winners, and invite everyone to join us for what is sure to be another great conference and competition next year in Baton Rouge. I also want to thank Jeff Brown and folks from Dayton PD for setting up such a terrific course.

Many thanks to John Brandt of University of Maryland Police for photographing all of the competition results!

2006 Competition Results

TEAM COMPETITION

Team Dezert Ratz – 8:21:48
Wallace Downs, Las Cruces PD, 2:04:62
Rob Peterson, Las Cruces PD, 2:18:91
Pat Hernandez, Albuquerque PD, 2:01:51
Brian Cantele, West Hartford PD, 1:56:44

Team Bethlehem – 9:54:02
Jason Schiffer, Bethlehem PD, 1:50:92
Jon Pesesko, Bethlehem PD, 2:00:51
Tim Brooks, Bethlehem PD, 2:22:53
Jason Fulmer, Bethlehem PD, 3:40:01

Team TXBike.com – 10:11:02
Paul Brown, College Station PD, 2:12:84
Ken Petereit, College Station PD, 2:42:23
John Hanke, Joliet PD, 2:46:18
Larry Collins, Joliet PD, 2:29:82

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION

Male under 30
First Place: Craig Medley, Annapolis PD, 2:43:91
Second Place: Scott Grantz, Cornell University PD, 3:09:37

Male 30-39
First Place: Jason Schiffer, Bethlehem PD, 1:50:92
Second Place: Tom Lynch, London Ambulance Service, 1:56:03

Male 40-49
First Place: Jon Pesesko, Bethlehem PD, 2:00:51
Second Place: Wallace Downs, Las Cruces PD, 2:04:62

Male over 50
First Place: John Brandt, University of Maryland PD, 2:29:34
Second Place: Mike Satlow, Jerusalem Civil Guard, 3:52:94

Female under 35
First Place: Tammy Kilgore Alois, Coconut Creek PD, 4:04:83

Female 35+
First Place: Barbara Winstead, Cincinnati Police Division, 2:27:04
Second Place: Tammy Shoemaker, Huber Heights PD, 3:23:28

OPEN CATEGORY

First Place: Eric Kackley, Volcanic Bicycles, 2:05:03
Second Place: Mike McKernan, Volcanic Bicycles, 2:17:62

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