Five Okotoks firefighters represented the town at the Worlds & Canadian Nationals earlier this month.
From Sept. 10–14, firefighters from across Canada, as well as teams from the UK, Poland, and the U.S., gathered in St. Catharines, Ontario, to compete.
Captain Ryan Chigol, along with teammates Tim Houghton, Amanda Aspen, Lisa Barton, and Georgina Johnstone, delivered strong performances, with all five athletes achieving personal best times.
Chigol, who has competed in FireFit for nearly 20 years, took home quite an accolade.
"I took the 50 and over category, which I was really happy about," he said. "That was a big goal of mine this year. And the girls came in third in the women's relay, which was really awesome to see. To medal at the national level in such a small department is a really, really great achievement in my eyes."
The women’s team’s achievement was particularly impressive, given that one member, Lisa Barton, suffered a back injury a few days prior.
Despite that, the team persevered, with Barton and Johnstone switching roles to accommodate the injury.
For some team members, including Amanda and Georgina, this was their first experience on the national stage.
It’s a testament to the hard work that went into preparing for the event, said Chigol.
"I feel it's truly the work that was put in to prepare for this event," he said. "It's a humbling course. You can't just walk onto this course and expect to run a really good time without putting in the time and effort to get the times or to improve that much. It's nice to see, as well, to end the year off with all the personal bests."
Chigol noted that the team’s dedication and support from local sponsors, such as the Town of Okotoks, Union Local 4829, Seton Shoppers Drug Mart, Kindred Roots Therapy, Ranch 4 Provisions, and Firehouse Subs, helped make the trip possible.
From here, Chigol expects they’ll take some time to recover and savour their performances before preparing for next season.
"We've put in probably a good five months of hard training. So now we're just going to obviously take some time off, heal some injuries, little aches and pains that happen throughout the year or season, and just enjoy the moment."