A Quick Response Time for Police

IRVINE — They swam, biked and ran, braving the wind, rain and 40-degree temperatures at the World Police and Fire Games in Calgary. When it was over, two of the three police officers had colds. One had a bride-to-be.

And oh, yes, all had silver medals.

“It was so nice to come home with something,” said Barry Aninag, an Irvine police officer who ran more than six miles for the triathlon team that finished in second place. The following day, he surprised his girlfriend of two years with a marriage proposal.

“The competition, the people, the whole thing was just so impressive,” he said.

Aninag, fellow police officer Troy Gielish and Laguna Beach Police Lt. Dwight Henninger joined nearly 10,000 other cops and firefighters last week at the international meet featuring a variety of sporting events.

After winning the triathlon competition at the 1996 state Police Games in Long Beach, the trio went to Calgary to test their mettle against nearly 40 other teams from around the globe.

“The competition was incredible,” said Gielish, who biked 26 miles after spending the day before in bed with a cold. “We expected it to be tough, but I think we were all sort of surprised by just how tough it really was.”

The team finished the race in two hours, nine minutes and 53 seconds--an agonizing three minutes behind the first-place team of firemen from Spain. Third place went to the same team of police officers from Australia who won the event two years ago.

Aninag blamed the second-place finish on himself. He said he expected to run three minutes faster than he did, but a bout with a nagging cold slowed him down.

Henninger said the spirit of the Games and the Canadian hospitality, which included free pancake breakfasts on downtown streets, was a special treat. And a televised, three-hour opening ceremony in a packed football stadium made them feel “like real Olympic athletes, if only for a minute,” he said.

“Around here you kind of hesitate to tell people you’re a police officer sometimes,” said Henninger, who swam one mile in 22 minutes. “It was really great to have a whole city supporting you like that.”