Doug Neslon and Lewis King with Mayor Alan McGraw at the Firefighter Olympics opening ceremony

By Hannah Garbacz
Administrative Technician

Firefighters came from across Texas this July as the City of Round Rock hosted the annual Firefighter Olympics.

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Due to their duties as hosts, Round Rock fire fighters were required to juggle Olympic events with their everyday responsibilities. Despite this extra challenge, our department sent out competitors in Soccer, Basketball, Darts, Sporting Clays, Washers, Texas Hold-Em, Disc Golf and Horseshoes.

Round Rock firefighters earned three medals – all in individual events. Jaime Rodriguez earned a silver medal in the Disc Golf competition, while Ehren Iverson claimed two bronze medals in Sporting Clays.

In the coming years, Round Rock firefighters hope to be able to spend more time practicing, especially for the team events, so that more medals will find their way to local trophy cases.

Firefighter Doug Nelson went above and beyond the call of duty in his role as the City of Round Rock’s liaison with the Olympics committee. Doug worked on all aspects of the event, from finding venues for the games to coordinating advertisement and publications. As thanks for his work over the last year, Doug was presented with a commemorative medal and certificate from the Olympics Committee, and a certificate of thanks from the City of Round Rock and Fire Department.

According to event coordinator Doug, a result of all the hard work put in to make this event a success was an uptick in attendance.

“Out of 19 events, registration was up in almost every event,” says Doug.

Additional thanks are due to all the members of the City of Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department who worked with the Olympics to make sure all the City’s facilities, from sand volleyball courts to baseball fields, were ready for the week of competition.

Although  the Olympics have been held in a different location every year, the Firefighter Olympics committee has asked the City of Round Rock to consider hosting the 2013 Olympics as part of its effort to hold the events in a Northern Texas location one year and a Southern Texas location the following year. The City of Round Rock would be the established Southern Texas location if all goes according to plan.

Congratulations to everyone for a successful event. Thank you for all your hard work.