FIRE FIT NATIONALS RECAP/HIGHLIGHTS:
The 25th year of the Fire Fit Championships was one of the biggest and fastest competitions to date with over 180 individuals, 30 relay teams and 40 tandem teams from Canada,Germany, England and the U.S. The Lambton Athletes held their own in the individual competitions with all team members finishing with personal best times. Tyler Goulden was in the hunt for Rookie of The year but unfortunately in his last race succumbed to the pressure and finished fourth. Sarah Goodman finshed in the top 20 for women and ran a sub 3:00 minutes as well as Mackenzie baker who broke into the top 10 with her personal best of 2:37.
In Team Relay, the women ran a Second place finish against the powerhouse Fort McMurray Fire. The team had not run under 1:50 all season but came up big in the final race. They lead the front half with an incredible performance by Amy Anderson and Courtney Bell. Fort McMurray ended up being too strong and caught up on the straight run making it a drag race to finish. Taylor Murray kept up with Canada's fastest, taking Randy home and finishing just 1.23 seconds behind. The Ladies had the support of the crowd and other competitors with this outstanding performance
On the Men's side of the competition, Lambton went up against the Kamloops fire in the elimination round who are lead by the men's individual champion Graham Mackenzie. Mackenzie, had been Canadian and World Champion, proved to be a tough opponent but this did not stop Tyler Goulden. Goulden fought side by side with Mackenzie the entire course until a very close finish resulted by Lambton losing by a very close 4/100th of a second.
The team's Assistant Coach, Shane Bettridge ran a Personal best in individuals. In the new hybrid division, Shane competed along side Trevor Russell(Fleming Head Coach) and recieved a silver medal in the Mens X3's tandem relay.
It was an Amazing season with a very young team. Lambton will have 7 returning athletes next summer and will definitely be in the hunt for some more hardware.