A handful of Okotoks firefighters will soon compete on the national stage.
FireFit is an annual championship where Canadian firefighters face a series of gruelling physical challenges, including a stair climb, dragging a 175-pound dummy, and pulling a 45-pound fire hose up a tower, hand over hand, all while dressed in full firefighting gear.
Okotoks fire captain and longtime FireFit competitor Ryan Chigol introduced the competition to his colleagues in 2024. This year, he competed alongside fellow Okotoks firefighters Tim Houghton, Lisa Barton, Georgina Johnstone, and Amanda Mason-Espin.
After impressive performances at the Alberta regional qualifier in May, and again at the BC, Yukon, and Nunavut regional qualifiers hosted at Spruce Meadows, the Okotoks group was left with a decision to make.
While they did qualify for the FireFit Worlds & Canadian National Championships in St. Catharines, Ontario, competing would require a significant commitment, including arranging flights, accommodations, and transportation for the entire group.
Eventually, they decided it was an opportunity they couldn't pass up.
"After that event, we took a couple of weeks off just to kind of regroup, give our bodies a break, give our minds a little break," said Chigol. "Then we had a little discussion and decided that, yeah, we're going to commit and go to Nationals in St. Catharines."
Together, the team will compete in several categories.
"I'm going to be competing in the Individual 50 and Over category," said Chigol. "Tim will be in the Individual Open category, and the females will be in the Female Individual category. And because there are three girls going, they're actually going to register as a team to compete in the relay event as well."
They resumed training after a short break and have been back at it for about three weeks.
"We try to make it no more than what we did in the past, where we tried to do every second day," Chigol explained." It's very taxing on your body; the course is very physically demanding. This time we've decided to go every third day. In between that, we try to do some light gym stuff or active recovery work. The biggest component is doing the actual training for the course, the specific movements. We've been going anywhere from three to four times a week again, just to prepare and get ready."
The FireFit Worlds & Canadian National Championships are scheduled for Sept. 10-14.