The St. Lucie County Firefighter Combat Challenge team took top honors in a competition last week as world champions in events at the Manatee Observation and Education Center in Fort Pierce.
The challenge involves firefighters donning full bunker gear competing on a course with a series of five physically-demanding challenges. The team also won the world championship last year.
“Anybody who can do it in under 2 minutes is a pretty special athlete for sure,” said team co-captain Matt Coney, in his 21st year with the St. Lucie County Fire District. He said his agency does well because it has three of the overall fastest racers, with Brian Riebe holding a state record.
“It's an average of our three fastest runners on our five-person team,” he said.
Coney, 46, said he started competing in 2012.
“We really are more about the team, the team awards,” Coney said.