The increasingly competitive FireFit team at Lambton College is off to a strong start this year.
The team, consisting of eight women and seven men, opened its season on July 6 and July 7 at the sold-out Western Ontario Regional in St. Catharines.
Adam Shouldice won gold for fastest rookie.
The men's and women's relay teams finished second in very close races.
Coach Shane Bettridge said the three fastest women won gold for best team time and the men's group finished second.
Cole Curry and Teagan Wehring both finished seventh overall.
Bettridge said unlike previous years, there are only two Ontario competitions this year instead of three to five events.
The next competition will be held on the weekend of August 10 in Oshawa for the Eastern Ontario Regional.
Shortly after, Lambton College's team will attend a competition in Humboldt, Saskatchewan on the weekend of August 24. Bettridge said the two-day event is being used as a fundraiser to support a new arena.
"Then after that, there's a National and World Championship, which we hosted last year, but this year it's in Kamloops, BC at the end of September," he said. "So we'll finish the season with two travelling events. With the success that we've already had, we're looking forward to those events."
Bettridge said his team will practice at least three times per week for about two to three hours.
"There are departments that are in our area that have a simulated tower, so a double-sided tower, that we will travel to on a Saturday or Sunday morning and train with those individuals to better simulate the exact course," he said. "It's a company that travels from BC and they have the tower on an 18-wheeler, they bring the entire course with them so it's standardized across all events across Canada."
With these events, Bettridge said competitors will go through a course, dressed in full bunker gear with a breathing apparatus on.
"The toughest part of it all, is you're dragging a Rescue Randy (manikin) which weighs 175 pounds, backward 100 feet. Males and females have to do the exact same work," he said.
Bettridge said they are allowed to have 15 competitors on the team and there were eight returning members this year.
"We had our most student athletes come to try out for the team this year. We had 24 athletes come out for seven spots which has made the team extremely competitive," he said. "Our seven rookies have done very well and with the leadership from our returning athletes, we've had success."
Bettridge said unofficially, Lambton College has had a FireFit team for well over 20 years.
This year's team includes: Nolan Lucier, Adam Shouldice, Nick Foley, Hudson Land, Cole Curry, Hunter Willis, Owen Lukings, Grayce Anderson, Alyssa Zirul, Teagan Wehring, Jenny Ward, Jordyn Britton, Sarah Davidson, Maddy Forte, Lily Felsbourg.