AMHERST – Despite a rainy day, two local firefighters improved on their individual times at a FireFit competition.
Amherst firefighters Mark Goodwin and Al Murray traveled to the Maritime Regional FireFit Competition in Moncton at the end of July and came back happy with their performances.
“It was a good weekend. Much better than Stephenville,” said Goodwin, referencing the Atlantic Regional FireFit Championship held in Newfoundland mid-July.
In the individual categories, both firefighters shaved seconds off their previous times.
Murray went from 2:18 to 2:17.
“He should have been faster, but because of safety reasons, they tell you to slow down,” said Goodwin.
Goodwin’s time when he entered the competition in New Brunswick was 2:16 and he walked away with a time of 2:07.
“We’re back on track.”
Having earned a bronze medal in the NxG2 tandem relay at the Atlantic competition, Goodwin and Murray stayed consistent this time around, completing the course in 2:09, instead of 2:08.
“There were some technical issues,” said Goodwin.
Along with Murray and Goodwin, the fire department also entered a team into the relay category for fun, consisting of Murray, Goodwin, Matt Selig, Marc Buske and Tyler McLeod.
“The team did really good,” said Murray.
In the seeding round, the team finished with a total time of 1:37. In the first knockout round, the relay team shaved off two seconds before going head-to-head with Longueuil, Que.
“They were fast,” said Goodwin, noting the team wanted to finish by a run of under a minute and 30 seconds.
“We finished at 1:28, which was exciting for us,” he said.
