Brandon Cunningham, a four-time Scott Firefighter Challenge World Individual Champion, is getting ready for the worlds already even though they aren’t until November. His trainer, Joshua Miller, looks on. Charmain Z. Brackett A lthough Brandon Cunningham doesn’t plan to compete in the any regional Scott Firefighter Challenge events until August, the Fort Gordon firefighter and multiple world champion winner is already working to shave milliseconds off his times.

“At the competition – these are the results of the work that is put in at the gym,” said Cunningham, who missed first place in the world championships in Myrtle Beach, S. C. in November 2010 by nanoseconds.

Cunningham has four world individual titles and titles in other categories such as the co-ed tandem and male tandem teams. At the nationals in 2010, he and Heidi Charest set a record in the co-ed tandem, and in 2008, he and Anthony McMurtry set a record in the male tandem in the worlds in Las Vegas.

His second place finish at the most recent world was debatable, he said. “They were using handtimers. The clocks weren’t working,” he said.

The winning time was 1.249 minutes while his time was 1.2505.

The Scott Firefighter Challenge includes a series of events that firefighters use in their regular jobs, such as climbing, running with a fire hose and chopping. In the competition, these events are timed.

Cunningham, a captain at Fort Gordon Fire Station 2, has been competing in the events for eight years. At the most recent nationals, the Fort Gordon relay team made it to the round of 16, he said.

Training for the firefighter challenge requires a different workout routine that training for a marathon or another type of sport. There is climbing and lifting which have to be done on the clock so Cunningham’s workout mimics this.

Not only does he do calisthenics, but he adds Olympic- style weightlifting, rope climbing, rowing, running up stairs and throwing tires with sledgehammers in his workouts. All of these activities are timed. Cunningham works out a lot at Crossfit Downtown Augusta.

“Every day, it changes,” he said.

And since his workouts are timed, he can chart his progress.

“I work on all elements of fitness – speed, strength and endurance,” he said. “I push those borders.”

By the time November’s world championships come around in 2011, Cunningham hopes to have made marked progress as he goes for a fifth world title.