Merseyside firefighters are going for gold
The World Firefighter Games 2008 gets underway on Monday with a spectacular Olympic-style opening ceremony which is expected to be attended by thousands.
Coming on the back of the Olympics in which Team GB have been unbelievably successful, organisers are hoping to recreate a similar atmosphere on Merseyside. After all where else would you see paintballing, cooking and arm wrestling appear side by side as competitive sports alongside boxing, martial arts, badminton, rowing and track and field?
The 73 sports on offer mean there is something to attract everyone and with venues across Merseyside, Sefton, Knowsley and Wirral it means that everyone should get a chance to catch some medal action.
On the British front keep your eyes on Gary Speakman from Greater Manchester who hopes to do the marathon on Tuesday (Aug 26) in full fire kit. He wants to reclaim his world record time of 5hrs 36min - an exhausting prospect.
And our very own Lib Dem councillor Eddie Clein wants to recreate his medal glory of an earlier games in the table tennis. (Aug 26/27/28)
Allerton firefighter Lauren McCormack is also hoping to be successful in the more traditional male contests including Toughest Firefighter Alive (which starts next Wed - Lauren will compete next Thursday) and boxing (Lauren will fight on Wednesday) as well as dragon boat racing and It's a Knockout.
Read more about Lauren's training in next week's Echo and follow her progress on the Echo's World Firefighter Games blog.
The Games will also be a great opportunity to showcase Merseyside's brightest sporting stars. Around half of the 3,000 competitors are from the UK and 74 are from Merseyside taking part in a variety of sports including boxing, table tennis, the Toughest Firefighter Alive, Dragon boat racing, rugby and tug-of-war - what a fantastic opportunity to cheer them on.
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ECHO AUTHORS
Michelle Fiddler Chief Reporter Michelle Fiddler is reporting from the middle of all the Firefighter Games action.
im in the toughest firefighter alive for gb team an i think its greate that gb have the skill to compet in this competition it will b greate
Not a lot of news on the actual games , where is the horse jumping/riding.
The Equestrian events where at Aintree Racecourse on 26th and 27th August.
Haha, it really was exhausting!! Managed it in 5 hrs 33 secs, shaving about 3 mins off the time!! :-)
Overall, an awesome event!!