Fit for it

By Craig Westcott

The crowds who braved rainy skies one day and searing heat the next to watch firefighters from across Canada compete in what is dubbed the toughest two minutes in sports didn’t leave feeling disappointed.
“We could not be happier with what we saw and certainly the feedback from the competitors who were from all across Canada, and even one from the United States,” said CBS Fire Chief John Heffernan, whose department, along with the Town of CBS, hosted the grueling competition. “There are a lot of people there who have been competing for an awful lot of years and said if it’s not the top event they have attended, it’s definitely in their top picks. So, we couldn’t be happier from the perspective of the number of participants, to the volunteers, the sponsors, our own department, the representation that we had, it was just an overall great success for the town as a whole, I think.”
The Firefit Challenge was held on the parking lot of Robert French Stadium in Kelligrews and featured individual and teams of firefighters rushing up seven sets of stairs in full kit to pull up a four foot roll of 42lb hose, then rush down, smash their way through a simulated barrier using sledge hammers, run an obstacle course, pull a fully loaded hose 75 feet back up the relay route to splash water on a target, then haul a 175lb life-sized dummy back 100 feet to safety at the other end of the route.
The tournament attracted teams from departments across the province, including the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City, Pouch Cove, Holyrood, St. John’s, as well departments from across the country.
Getting enough participants to pony up the registration costs is key to making the event feasible. The challenge has been held at Stephenville once before and in St. John’s a number of times. This is the second time the Town of CBS and the fire department has hosted it.
“Talking with Firefit, the organization that owns the competition, they were tickled, they couldn’t be happier,” said Heffernan. “There was nothing that they would have wanted done differently, so it was good, and we look forward to the next opportunity.”
Heffernan said CBS’s ability to host such a large-scale event and attract enough competitors to make it viable speaks well for the town. CBS has also hosted national curling events twice in recent years and the Snowbirds twice. “We’re punching way above our weight,” Heffernan allowed.
Among the CBS firefighters who won awards during the event, Firefighter Emily Spracklin took first place in the hybrid tandem, and with Captain Sean Lawlor, captured third place in the mixed tandem. Lawlor placed first overall in the over 40 age category, while Captain Richard Hynes took first place in the over 40 tandem. Lieutenant Travis Chaulk and Firefighter Scott Churchill won first place in the male over 50 tandem. Captains Lawlor and Richard Hynes and firefighters Spracklin, Chris Murphy and Brad Connors raced to a second-place finish in the mixed relay.
Heffernan said honorable mentions are also due to Captain Dave Smith and firefighters Ryan Collins, Shawn Lake, Lee Hollett, Paul Evoy, Mitch Edmunds, and John MacDonald “who absolutely gave their all.”