They stood the heat of battle in scorching Texas and emerged victorious as the fastest New Zealand team, with two bronze and a silver medal.
Kyle and Neil Gardiner, Grant Lawrence, and Sam Goffriller set the world alight with their Tākaka flair at the World Firefighter Challenge in Dallas in late October, blazing a new trail for their brigade and burning through the pain the “toughest two minutes in sport” commands.
Racing in individual, tandem and relay categories after months of high-intensity training, the quad representing the Tākaka Volunteer Fire Brigade were required to ruck a 20kg hose pack up a five-storey tower and hand-over-hand hoist an equal-weight hose pack once at the top.
Back on the ground, they had to thrust a 72kg Keiser Force Machine’s steel beam 1.5 metres with a dead blow hammer before hauling a charged hose through a 42.6m slalom course and spritzing a swinging door target.
The last burst was dragging a manikin weighing around 80kg backwards 30 metres to the finish line.
While the course was more strenuous than anticipated for the Tākaka 39ers (they were called) and the jet lag added fuel to the fire, Neil and Grant were rapid-fire to place second in the open male tandem with a time of one minute and 55 seconds.
Neil also earned a bronze with a time of one minute and 39 seconds in the 40-49 male relay team category, which he raced with three firefighters from the North Island, and it was also a new World Firefighter Challenge record.
Team captain Kyle rounded off the 39ers’ medal tally with a bronze in the 18 to 24 male category with a time of one minute and 37 seconds, and Sam’s best result was sixth in the 25 to 29 male category.
Kyle says while their burning ambitions to complete the course in less than 75 seconds weren’t met, they’ll warmly reflect on their first rodeo on the world stage.
“We were all very impressed… probably a good word is eye-opening,” he says.
“It is like one big family after your race, you don’t hate the other person, or you don’t disagree with them, you just bump fists, or you give them a hug and say, ‘good race’,” he says.
“Dallas was a good spot, they had everything to be fair, and I think the Americans really love us Kiwis too and looked after us quite well.”
Kyle says the 39ers’ fundraising manager Tash Rattray had her phone go “berserk” throughout their time in Texas as she posted updates on Facebook, and he saluted Tākaka locals for their support both in the lead-up to and during the showpiece.
