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Darryl Amos shocked even himself.
After a two-year absence from competition, Amos finished the FireFit course with a personal best time of one minute, 20 seconds — it was more than enough for the St. Catharines fire captain to win the overall individual event.
Doing it at home, in front of the community he serves, was something else.
“That didn’t set in until last night,” said Amos. “You just ran the first ever event in St. Catharines and one of our own took it home. How cool is that? That’s history, it won’t change. The first winner ever in St. Catharines was a St. Catharines member. That’s pretty cool.”
But Amos wasn’t alone. The multi-year break did little to slow down St. Catharines Fire and Emergency Services, which entered three teams into the competition.
Firefighters, family, friends and spectators gathered over the weekend at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre as first responders hosted a regional FireFit competition for the first time in the event’s history.
On Saturday, one St. Catharines team finished in first place in team time, with another finishing in third place. Firefighter Kevin Coffey won first with the fastest time in the over-40 division.
During Sunday’s events, St. Catharines captured both first (with a time of 1:08:41) and second place (1:17:60) in the team relay.
It was a long road, and a lot of work, to put the event together, but watching the entire team pull off races like they did, was “really, really good to see,” said Amos.
“You couldn’t ask for anymore from our team and then everyone ran their personal best yesterday — we were putting up lightning fast times and it’s just incredible,” he said.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”
More than 100 firefighters from across southern Ontario and Quebec competed in individual and team events that saw firefighters, dressed in full bunker gear, go through a series of tasks, each representing a firefighter requirement. Tasks included: six-flight stair climb, hose hoist, forcible entry, run, hose advance and victim rescue.
On Sunday, the team relay events welcomed men, women and mixed teams from Whitby, Ottawa, Markham and Clearview. Lambton College fire school and Fleming College pre-service firefighters also competed.
In the technical relay, spectators cheered on one Fleming College team, as pre-fire service student Amber Milley fought her way to the end, dragging an 80-kilogram Rescue Randy dummy to safety.
For the public to watch, and see the difficulty of the tasks required of firefighters in emergency situations “is a big eye-opener for them,” said Amos.
“This is a sport that’s like no other,” he said.
President of FireFit of Canada, Hilary McRoberts and her husband, a retired firefighter, started the competition 29 years ago, travelling coast to coast to bring FireFit to local communities.
The course was developed in the United States as an entry level test for firefighters, to make sure they could physically handle the job, said McRoberts.
“We thought it was fantastic. It represented what firefighters do at any given call that they go to,” she said.
“It just embodies (firefighters) and you can just see it — they’re so proud when they’re out there and what they’re doing and being able to represent their homes, their departments, the cities that they work for and that they protect.”
In September, the top St. Catharines team will compete at the FireFit Worlds and Canadian National Championships in Spruce Meadows, Alta.
St. Catharines firefighters put up 'lightning fast times' at FireFit - St. Catharines Standard
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