TUG-OF-WAR AT GRAND BEND PART OF
2004 CAN-AM POLICE-FIRE GAMES

      Excitement is mounting in the city of London and neighbouring communities in anticipation of a major athletic event this summer that is expected to bring thousands of participants and spectators to the region.  After being awarded the right to hold the Can-Am Police-Fire Games, in May of 2001, a committee of mainly local volunteers, has been working very hard preparing for the meet scheduled for July 11th to 18th..  This will be the second time in recent years that the area has played host to such an event, the first being the Canada Games in 2001.

      The Can-Am Police-Fire Games is a multi-sport event open to law enforcement, fire service and emergency service personnel.  The Games focus on promoting camaraderie amongst community safety professionals and are governed by the Can-Am Police-Fire Games Federation Inc.

      The Can-Am Police-Fire Games started as the Northwest Police-Fire Games in 1977 when officials from two state police and fire games (Washington and Oregon) and a police-fire sports group from Western Canada formed an organization that organized and conducted a multi-sport event for police officers and fire fighters on an annual basis.  Each year the event continued to expand, attracting ever greater numbers of participants and in 1996 the group reorganized and renamed itself the Can-Am Police-Fire Games to better represent the athletes demographically. From that time on, the event has been held every two years.

      The first meet was held in Spokane, Washington and continued ever since in either the United States or Canada.  2004 marks the first time that a city in eastern Canada or the United States has hosted the event.  This year's edition will feature 60 sporting activities at 35 venue sites in the seven day tournament with more than 2000 participants being expected to attend.  In addition to traditional sports such as badminton, basketball, ice-hockey, soccer, softball, swimming and tug-of-war, others like auto extrication, fire attack, pistol duty, submission grappling and police service dog competitions are designed to test skills required in the performance of daily tasks by police and firefighters. 

      The tug-of-war event has always been a very popular and exciting part of the program since the first tournament in 1977 and this year's competition, scheduled for Wednesday, July 14th, 2004 at the village of Grand Bend, Ontario promises to be no exception.  Traditional entries from as far away as Tennessee and California as well as local police teams from  Toronto, Peel and Detroit are expected to compete at the tournament.  Constable Laurie Legg of the City of London Police Force has been working with members of the Canadian Amateur Tug-of-War association to organize the one day event.

      Our next issue will feature a detailed analysis of the tug-of-war tournaments held in previous years at these Games.

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Editor: M. L. Monteith
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Last modified: May 17, 2004