A local Border Services Agency officer is making quite the name for himself in both the “tough mudder/Spartan” style obstacle races and Police and Firefighter games.
If you’ve been to the Grand Forks Recreation Centre, you’ve probably seen Frank Phipps around. Phipps, a tall and slender 44-year-old, works out there twice a week. He also runs outside four times a week.
He recently competed in 11 events inthe Can-Am Police-Fire Games in York County, Pennsylvania on July 13-20 and took home an amazing five gold, five silver and one bronze.
Phipps won gold in 5k cross country, 10k cross country, triple jump, 5k road race and 1,500m track.
Phipps said the competition was decent but not as tough as at the world championships.
“I’ve done the World Police and Fire Games and this is like the baby brother of that,” he said. “Sometimes I got pushed and sometimes I didn’t. I had to really pace myself because I knew I had the 11 events. I just ran what I needed to run.”
On the Saturday before the event, Phipps competed in a couple of obstacle course races. He also participated in an obstacle course race in West Virginia on the Saturday after the event.
“It was 64k of racing and 14 events in eight days,” he said.
Phipps said he finished 18th out of a couple of thousand competitors in the obstacle course race which was filmed for CBS.
“It was an athletic vacation,” he said. “I just wanted to see how I could do against North American competition.”
Phipps participated in the World Fire and Police games in 2009 in Vancouver and 2011 in New York. In Vancouver, he won a gold in the Grouse Grind and a bronze in team triathlon. In New York, he placed first in a race up the stairs at World Trade Center #7, second in triathlon and a bronze in indoor rowing.
For the events, Phipps has to go on his own time and pay his own way.
Phipps said he has always been active and enjoys training.
“I’ve gone from running to cycling and now I’m back to obstacle racing,” he said. “Running was getting a little boring so you throw some obstacles in there and it really changes the dynamic and makes it more exciting. With running, the fittest guy at the start of the race is usually the guy who wins. In obstacle racing, the fittest guy doesn’t necessarily win. If you miss an obstacle, you have to do 30 burpees (one burpee is a jumping jack followed by a push up and a sit up) as a penalty. So you could be ahead and fall off an obstacle and someone could pass you when you’re doing your burpees. It’s just something different than just getting on a road and straight running.”
Phipps plans on attending the World Fire and Police Games next year in Fairfax, Virginia.
“It’s all about the competition,” he said. “It’s also a slight addiction. Exercise addiction.”
He’s also hoping to compete in the upcoming Obstacle Course Race World Championships in Ohio this year, which combines the winners of several well known races such as Spartan, Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder and more.
“There’s a whole bunch of different races around the world,” he said. “This is a group that has said, ‘hey, let’s bring everyone from around the world who has qualified and show up in Ohio and I’m going to run in my age group and I’ll represent Canada.”
Some of the obstacles include crawling under barbed wire, carrying cinder blocks through water, mud pits and more.
Phipps recalls getting caught on the barbed wire in a course in Pennsylvania and receiving a nasty gash on his face.
“I got caught on the barbed wire right between the eyes and got a little scar,” he said. “I got tagged pretty good. That was the result of not paying attention to the barbed wire.”