Firefighter Alana Thorne of Paihia hits the target with a high-pressure hose. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Firefighter Alana Thorne of Paihia hits the target with a high-pressure hose. Photo / Peter de Graaf
They call it firefighting's answer to Iron Man or even the toughest two minutes in sport.
It's the Firefighter Combat Challenge, a test of fitness, strength and skill held in the grounds of the Copthorne Hotel at Waitangi on Saturday.
The event, which drew firefighters from Kaitaia in the FarNorth to Wairoa in Hawke's Bay, was organised by the local branch of the United Fire Brigades Association.
Northland Sub-association president Keith Roberts said competitors had to wear a full firefighting kit, including a heavy air tank, while they ran up four flights of stairs carrying an 19kg hose.
They then hoisted another 19kg hose up the tower on a rope and shifted a 73kg beam using a sledgehammer.
Competitors then had to run through a slalom course, carry a charged hose more than 20m and through a set of swing doors, and hit a target with a jet of water.
Finally they had to drag an 80kg dummy more than 30m.
''They call it the toughest two minutes in sport. The guns, who do this day in, day out, can do it in even less than that,'' Roberts said.
