A single trooper's idea for beating burnout is now a statewide event. Illinois State Police Master Sergeant Matthew Renderman spent several years building a fitness competition for his fellow officers before launching it as a regional pilot in October 2025. On October 3, 2026, the second annual Survival of the Fittest opened to personnel from across the Illinois State Police, according to Patch.
For anyone who has watched a department's annual fitness test turn into a once-a-year scramble, Renderman's event is a reminder that physical readiness for first responders works best as a habit, not a hurdle.
From Regional Pilot to Statewide Event
The competition, held at a gym in Oak Lawn, combines strength, endurance and agility stations into a fast-paced circuit, the kind of format that rewards all-around conditioning over any single skill. What started as a one-district event last fall grew enough in its first year that Renderman opened this year's competition to troopers and staff statewide, per Patch's reporting.
That growth matters. Fitness competitions inside a department tend to succeed or fail on buy-in, and buy-in usually comes from officers seeing a peer, not a policy memo, put in the work to build something worth showing up for.
Wellness Beyond the Badge
Renderman's push for officer fitness isn't a side project from his actual job, it's an extension of it. He also serves on the Illinois State Police Peer Support Team, the internal network officers turn to when the weight of the work gets heavy. Earlier this year, the 100 Club of Illinois recognized that dual focus on physical and mental wellness, presenting him with its 2026 Individual Wellness Award at the Frontline Convention, Patch reported.
That pairing, a strength circuit built by someone who also staffs the peer support line, says something true about first-responder wellness: the physical and mental sides aren't separate problems. The discipline of training for something hard, and the camaraderie of training for it alongside people who understand the job, both do real work on the stress that comes with wearing a badge.
Why This Resonates With Our Community
Stories like Renderman's are exactly why Operation WarriorFit exists for first responders as much as it does for veterans. A police officer, firefighter, or EMT carrying the physical and mental toll of the job deserves the same outlet that a 5K, a Spartan race, or a HYROX event can provide, a concrete goal, a training plan, and a finish line that proves something to the person crossing it.
If you're a current or former first responder looking for that outlet, OWF covers race entry fees so cost is never the reason you don't start. Check your eligibility to see if we can get you to the start line.