It's not "Survivor." Gregg Norton's eight-hour competition included a three-mile run, a shot-put throw, bench-press lifts, and an obstacle course.
Trooper Norton, of the Pennsylvania State Police's Greensburg barracks, isn't a character on a reality show. He competed against 41 fellow law enforcement officers for the international title of Toughest Cop Alive in Ottawa, Canada, earlier this month. In his second attempt at the International Law Enforcement Games, he claimed the title.
Aside from flexing his muscles at competitions, Norton also shows his strength at home with his family. He often works out while his 10-month-old daughter, Peyton, watches from her playpen. His wife, Heidi, is pregnant with the couple's second child. Norton brings the baby to the weight room at the barracks and has no problem holding her in one of his arms.
At the competition, within nine hours, the participants completed a three-mile run, shot-put throw, 100-meter dash, 100-meter freestyle swim, 20-foot arms-only rope climb, two bench-press lifts, pull-ups and an obstacle course to determine the premier police officers in the world.
Norton won the Pennsylvania Police Olympics in 1999, while working as a police officer for the city of Greensburg. In 2000, he competed at Cocoa Beach, Fla., in the International Law Enforcement Games, and took second place.
His foot caught on a hurdle in the last event, the obstacle course. The penalty for knocking the hurdle over was an additional 5 seconds added to his time of 36.02, costing him 100 points and the first-place finish.
This year was different. He completed the obstacle course with a time of 1 minute and 3 seconds, and cleared all hurdles. "I've learned by doing this over the years that there is a lot of strategy involved," Norton said.
The 41 competitors in the event included officers from all over the United States, Austria, Russia and other countries. Everyone was broken up into different age brackets. Norton took first place in both his age bracket (30-34), and in the overall competition.
The Toughest Cop Alive competition offers eight events, with a total of 8,000 possible points. This year, the event began at 7:30 a.m. and ended at 4:30 p.m. Norton explained that the first three or four events move quickly. He had completed the three-mile run, shot-put throw and 100-meter dash within the first hour.
"It's a fierce competition," Norton said. "But it's still a friendly atmosphere."
Norton, of Hempfield Township, trains year-round for these competitions, but says it's easy to overtrain. "You have to learn to pace yourself," he said.
He likes to maximize his points in the 100-meter dash and the pull-up event. To train he does distance running three to four days each week and lifts weights four days each week. He swims and practices shot put once each week and climbs a rope once every 10 to 14 days.
This year, he said, he dedicated his performance to the victims and surviving rescue workers of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Fellow Trooper Joe Ruggery competed in the cycling event during this year's International Law Enforcement Games and won three out of four events, earning a first-place title in overall competition.
Ruggery has been biking competitively for more than 10 years. This year was the first he competed in the international games.
"I picked up a mountain bike in college and went from there," he said. "Competition gives me another reason to exercise and to stay in shape."
He trains five or six days per week, riding between 20 and 70 miles throughout the city of Greensburg. He has found it best to train by himself because he doesn't have to alter his rides to anyone else's preferences.
During this year's international games, he competed in a three-day, four-stage race that, on a short 1.8-kilometer course, required multiple laps. By the end of the race, competitors had completed nearly 25 miles. Ruggery placed second to a rider from Australia.
The second day brought about a road race. Ruggery claimed the first-place spot in this 40-mile race. The final day's event was a 10-kilometer time trial, in which Ruggery also placed first.
He plans to continue training and compete again in the 2004 international games scheduled to be held in Las Vegas.
Ruggery is sponsored in his biking events by BikeLine located in the Hempfield Plaza.
The International Law Enforcement Games began in 1974 as a spinoff from the United States National Law Enforcement Games. The games are held every other year and include approximately 40 events similar to those found in the Olympic venue, including the Toughest Cop Alive competition, and shooting competitions.
