A Queenstown volunteer firefighter’s the toast of her brigade for her stunning performance at the world firefighter combat challenge in Stuart, Florida, in the United States, last week.
Claire Jones, 36, finished fourth in the women’s 40-and-under category and fifth woman altogether after continually lowering her personal best (PB) time.
The combat challenge comprises five ironman-type tasks like climbing a six-storey tower with a 19kg hose and dragging a life-sized dummy 30.5 metres.
The gut-busting tasks have to be performed while wearing full bunker gear and breathing apparatus.
Jones qualified for Florida by breaking three minutes in the open women’s section of the national firefighter challenge in Wellington in May.
She recorded 2 minutes 57 seconds, easily beating her PB of 3.31sec.
In her first run in the US, she notched 2.52sec, which she broke again with 2.44sec in her second run to qualify her for last Saturday’s finals.
Jones then smashed that time again with an amazing 2.27sec in the finals despite 30-degree heat.
Her partner Holly Alldred, who joined her on the trip, says she’s very grateful to her sponsors and all those who made her trip possible.
‘‘All the hard work, early morning gym sessions and work with her team in Queenstown has paid off.
‘‘A great time was had by all, and Claire is already planning for next year.’’
The New Zealand women’s team also finished fourth in the relay category.
