Peeblesshire News | News | Local fireman aims to become toughest firefighter alive

Thursday, 4th December, 2008

Published: Friday, 22nd August, 2008 12:30

Local fireman aims to become toughest firefighter alive

By David O'Leary

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Fireman Kevin Tait is heading to Liverpool next week in the hope of claiming the title of the Toughest Firefighter Alive.

The ex-Halyrude pupil is competing in the World Firefighter Games in Liverpool, alongside more than 5500 fire emergency workers from around the globe.

Two years ago, Kevin took part in the previous Olympics-style spectacular in Hong Kong and will be looking to better his 11th placing from that competition. He’ll also be hoping for better luck this time after breaking his arm in an arm-wrestling competition.

Now based in Sheffield, Kevin regularly returns to Peebles to visit his father, George, at Provost Melrose Place.

Looking forward to the Toughest Firefighter Alive event, which tests the strength and stamina of the competitors to the limit, he said: “This is a very prestigious competition for firefighters and I’ve been training hard for the last six months.

“The competitions are varied but the one that I’ve entered is built around my jobs’ key skills such as hose dragging, casualty carrying, racing up 15 stories and then, to round it off, carrying two 20 kilo barrels up two flights of stairs.

The World Firefighters Games was first held in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990 and has since been held on every continent.

The Liverpool World Firefighters Games 2008 will be staged from 25th August- 3rd September 2008 and will feature 60 sporting events over a period of 10 days.

Kevin said: “In Hong Kong, I broke my arm in the arm-wrestling. It was excruciating, I got given a load of pills and then flew home, before having an operation to have it pinned.

“I’ve recently cut the tip of my finger off at work so I’m hoping that it will be healed fully by then. I won’t be entering any arm-wrestling competition this time. I can’t even watch people arm wrestling now after it!

”Previous winners of the Toughest Firefighter Alive have all come from Germany, New Zealand and Australia, so, I’m hoping to become the first Scot and Brit to win a medal. I’ve been watching the Olympics to get some inspiration.”

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