Back on the fire brigade track this week, with a competition at Mooroopna, just under 90 minutes drive away. With numbers short, I knew I was in for a busy day.
First up (for me) was the ladder race. Things didn’t go well, and I had a few slips on the way up, so didn’t get through my heat.
Straight after was the hose and ladder 5s. During the week, I had tweaked my sprint technique with the hose in the harness, which seemed to give slightly more speed down the track. I used the same technique in this run and made it to the stage with plenty of time to spare. Our time was 25.12. Not spectacular, but 0.67 seconds better than last year.
Because we’re down on numbers, I was called upon for some of the marshalls, which were next, running a 19 second 2 man marshall, which wasn’t too bad, considering the limited time I’ve spend on these events. Had a solid run in the 4 man Y, but we were slow getting over the line. After the Y, it was time for lunch.
The first event after lunch for me was the pumper and ladder 5s. Our run was aborted part way through, due to equipment failure. As this was not our fault, we were granted a re-run. In the re-run, I got a good climb, and we finished with a time of just over 17 seconds, which is among our best times.
Now all that remained were the cart events, which have always suited me the best. First of those was the C Section 4s. I was in pole, as usual, had a good, uneventful run, and we easily won the event.
Following the 4s, was the sixes, one of my favourite events (the other being the Y8). Here, I was in my usual position of pole and second branch, so another run with the cart in tow, but at least I had another person beside me in the front and an additional one on the back. :) This pole is a bit harder though, with the front being heavy to pick up at the start, and the run being 25 yards longer than the 4s. My run was unuventful, with good speed down the track, then taking my branch before handing the cart over to the catcher. I was in position in plenty of time to hit the target. Unfortunately, we got a miss somewhere.
Next up was the champion 4s. I wasn’t originally on this team, but one of the other guys was suffering from minor heat exhaustion and went off to the rehab facility to get it sorted, so I was called in to take the pole again. This run went similar to the C section 4s, except I was probably slightly faster, due to being fully warmed up from the previous 2 runs. Our time was also slightly faster, but as this was an open event, the A and B sides got all of the placings.
With the loss of one of our team, we no longer had sufficient numbers to run the Y8, even with borrowing from another team, so our day ended there. I was feeling a bit under the weather myself, though nothing serious. I decided to check into rehab as a precaution. They found only a slightly elevated body temperature, but nothing dangerous, so I spent 10-20 minutes in a cooling chair with some water and electrolyte replacements, before returning to the team to help pack up for the trip home.
For the team, the day was successful, with a section aggregate win and 5th in the grand aggregate.
This coming week, it’s back to athletics for the Victorian Country Athletics Championships.
- Tony via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2mdJS23
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