It was exhausting to watch, never mind how the some 50 firefighters felt during the weekend regional firefit competition on Main Street.

They challenged the course in their full firefighting gear, complete with their breathing apparatus, just as though they were at a real fire.

Up six flights of stairs – 40 feet – carrying a 42-pound bundle of hose. Once at the top, they hauled up a 45-pound role of hose by rope before making their way down, sure to touch every one of the steps as required on the way down.

They had to drive a piston using a nine-pound sledge hammer, simulating a forcible entry, and then run to the end of the course, pick up a fully charged fire hose and run back and knock out a target.

The last but possibly the toughest of the individual challenges was dragging the 175 pound Rescue Randy back down to the finish line.

It was a display of endurance, to say the least.

It was a display of what firefighters must be prepared for when they are called upon.

Perhaps elder Billie Giroux of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation summed it up in her opening prayer to kick off the two-day event Saturday morning.

“Firefighters are our heroes everyday,” she told the field of competitors and a healthy audience gathered on Main to watch the physically demanding affair.

Mayor Dan Curtis, Kwanlin Dün Chief Doris Bill and Community Services Minister John Streicker all took turns recognizing and thanking the firefighters, and all first responders.

“We are fiercely proud of our firefighters and the work they do for us,” Bill told the audience.

Dale McRoberts, president of the Firefit Championships, said in the 25 years he’s been running his Firefit business, he’s seen how maintaining fitness levels has become regular routine among firefighters.

The retired 20-year veteran of the Vancouver Fire Department said there was a time when seeing somebody working out and doing fitness at the fire hall was an oddity.

Not anymore, he said.

The weekend was testimony to that.

Of the 35 men competing, Graham MacKenzie of the Kamloops Fire Department set the bar with a blistering, first-place time of one minute, 19 seconds and 58 one hundreds. MacKenzie clocked in more than 11 seconds ahead of second-place Andrew Foreman of Delta Fire Department. Sean Sullivan from the U.S. Air Force Fire Protection service was third overall but first in the over-40 class, with a time of 1:34:26, or just less than 15 seconds off the lead.

Myron Penner of the Yukon Fire Marshal’s Office was eighth overall and second in the over-45 category, with a time of 1:48:80. Penner was also the second fastest
volunteer, finishing four seconds back of Ian Carroll of Alberta’s Edson & District Fire Department.

Cody Fraser of the Whitehorse Fire Department finished ninth overall, less than half a second behind Penner’s time.

Of the 13 women entered in the regional championships, Alberta firefighter Jalene Cartwright posted a time of 2:37:89 to place first.

Megan Coyne of the Yukon Fire Marshal’s Office placed ninth among the women in a time of 3:24:42.

In the over-40 category, Jeremy Beebe of the Whitehorse Fire Department finished fourth with a time of 2:00:36 and Thomas Luxemburger of the Whitehorse Airport Fire Department was fifth.

In the chief’s category, James Paterson of the Yukon Fire Marshal’s office finished third in a time of 1:58:91, or just over four seconds ahead fourth place Chris Gerrior of the Whitehorse Fire Department.

Of the four teams entered into the women’s relay, the team representing the Fire Marshal’s Office finished third, while one of the teams from Fort McMurray took top honours.

The Mount Lorne Volunteer Fire Department finished first in the mixed relay.

Of the seven teams enter in the men’s relay, Team #1 from the Whitehorse Fire Department finished third behind Kamloops and Delta.