and his wife Stacey comes when she can get the time off work. Over the course of these trips, they have swum in all of the Great Lakes. “Lake Michigan was the best because the waves were so big that we could body surf! On these trips, we didn’t bring plates or any food (other than munchies for the car). We would hit camp in the late afternoon, go for a swim or bike ride, go to a local family restau-rant for dinner, have breakfast at a Timmie’s or a diner, and have lunch on the road somewhere. Yes, it’s “glamping”, but it was a vacation for me as much as the kids!” Their goal is to visit, camp, and race in every province and territory in Canada. Ken and Ryan are planning to do some hiking-style camping to experience nature in a new way together. Ken wanted to participate in some longer triathlons. He was inspired by Captains Mark Manner-ing 341 C, and Dave Camley 445B. The longer races need a good road bike, so he researched his options. With the help of biking gurus Firefighters Matt Drenters 445 A, and Carl Ing 432 A, he bought a good road bike and started to train. Last summer he participated in 2 half-Ironman’s and some shorter triathlons with his son, taking his parents’ camper. “It is awesome to spend that kind of time together.” Over the years, Ken and his family have competed in obstacle-type mud races such as Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, Gut Buster and Foam Fest. He has also done the Tough Mudder with the late Firefighter Sara Rosen 443C, Prison Break with Firefighter Scott Boisvert 435A, Bad-Ass Dash with Firefighter Glenn Williams 142A, and numerous Sprint Triathlons around Ontario. This summer, Ken and his son will be entering the Rugged Maniac mud race. Ken has also regis-tered for a half Ironman in Syracuse, NY and the full Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. It involves a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike race, then a full marathon 42 km run. “It is a little daunting, but I trust and enjoy the training.” There is a Legacy Program at Ironman. If you do 12 Ironman competitions, you
can apply for a coveted spot in the World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. There are 12 Ironman’s in North America, so Ken hopes to do them all, then be selected to go to Kona. Ken had heard great things about the World Police and Fire Games, so he decided to compete in New York City in 2013. He chose the stair climb event but arrived in New York to find the event cancelled due to the incoming Hurricane Irene! He was travelling with D/C Tim Deakin and Acting Captain Rob Gutray from 445 C. “Rob’s Dragonboat event was also cancelled, so we left New York as fast as we could to avoid the storm”. In 2015 Ken went to Fairfax, Virginia to compete at orienteering. Orienteering is a combination of trail running and hunting for checkpoints with a map and compass. “Being new to the sport, I did my best and finished the course. You succeed at Orienteering by minimizing your mistakes. I made one huge mistake that took me the same amount of time to find the checkpoint that the winner spent completing the whole course! I still had fun, though.” Like most of us, Ken continues to
challenge himself to balance his activities with his family life and work. If you ask him how it’s going, he’ll probably answer with “I’m living the dream!” Many people chuckle at this, but there’s a lot of truth to his reply. Ken says “Am I busy? Yes, but my favourite line in a movie is from ‘Shawshank Redemption’. Andy tells Red that life comes down to a simple choice get busy living or get busy dying.” I think we know which choice Ken has made.
Vo l u m e 1 2 | I s s u e 3 | F I RE WAT CH 33
Fire Watch Volume 12 Issue 3 v9.indd 33
2017-06-12 11:16 AM