Wāhine Toa take on the world at the Firefighter Challenge World Championships
This month, 16 firefighters from Aotearoa New Zealand travelled to Florida to compete against 350 of their international colleagues in the Firefighter Challenge World Championships.
Part of this contingent included a four-strong women’s relay team – Wāhine Toa – consisting of Lynsey Nault from Wellington North, Jodi Purdie from Te Puke, Claire Jones from Queenstown and Jenna McNeill from Cromwell.
The team were up against what is dubbed the ‘toughest two minutes in sport’, a course that includes running up 6 flights of stairs in full bunker gear and BA whilst carrying a 19kg pack, hauling another pack up the stairs on a rope, running back down and hammering the keiser forcible entry simulator 1.5m using a 4kg shot hammer, running a slalom, dragging out a 45mm charged hose to hit a target and finally dragging Randy the 82kg rescue dummy 30 metres – all in the 32 degree Florida heat and humidity!
Wāhine Toa had never trained as a team before their world event and achieved a win in their first race and a fantastic 4th place finish overall.
But the team wasn’t finished there – Jodi went on to win gold in her tandem women’s team alongside teammates from Aotearoa and Brazil, Lynsey picked up a silver with her co-ed team, Claire placed 4th in her individual event and set a new PB, and Jenna improved her time in every race she competed in.
Two of our other Kiwi competitors also achieved success - Jodi Reymer from Pirongia, won two bronze medals across the competition and Tom Reid from Christchurch Airport achieved his 4th world record and a gold medal with his tandem team.
‘It was awesome to see how much people improved over the week and we’re looking forward to competing with everyone again next season,’ says Jenna who, alongside her Wāhine Toa teammates, was competing in her first World Championships.
